June Shannon is officially, and almost legally, a mother again.
The reality TV star won custody of Kaitlyn, the daughter of her late daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, after a lengthy court battle with her ex-son-in-law, Michael Cardwell.
As you may recall, Anna passed away last December of cancer.
In the wake of this tragedy, a legal battle ensued between Shannon and Cardwell over the aforementioned 12-year-old boy… with June claiming that Anna wanted the young woman to live with grandmother.
To clarify, we were never told the identity of Kaitlyn’s biological father.
However, she was being raised by Anna and Michael at the time of the former’s death.
“Michael’s thing is about money, and Kaitlyn is not a symbol of money. Kaitlyn wants to be raised by her biological family,” Shannon previously told The Sun.
According to court documents obtained by People magazine, meanwhile, Shannon was awarded custody of her 12-year-old daughter by a Georgia judge on Friday, September 20.
The order states that “legal and physical custody of the minor child shall remain with (Mama June) and (Michael) shall have no visitation rights as such unless otherwise agreed to by the parties and the minor child.”
Anna died at age 29 on December 9 after being diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal carcinoma.
She left behind Kaitlyn, who she took in during a previous relationship, and 8-year-old daughter Kylee, who she had with Michael.
Michael will continue to raise Kylee.
A Wilkinson County judge wrote in the ruling late last week that although Kaitlyn he did sometimes spent time with her sister Kylee while in Michael’s custody and stayed with him for up to five weeks at a time last year, “(Michael) has never provided any significant financial support to this child (Kaitlyn).”
Additionally, court documents state that a family therapist testified that Kaitlyn “is afraid of being taken away from” Shannon and “has expressed a desire to stay” with her grandmother.
At one point this year, Shannon alleged that Michael had abused Anna during their marriage, in an attempt to convince the court that it was in Kaitlyn’s best interests to continue living with her.
Michael’s lawyer has hit back at the abuse allegations, telling In Touch Weekly:
“Michael denies these allegations. This is the first time any of these allegations have been made against him. He and Anna had a great relationship when they were married and simply grew apart due to differences of opinion and personalities.”
He said Mama June after losing her daughter months ago, talking to followers on TikTok:
“My mind is so emotionally and mentally f-cked up right now…
“My mental emotional shit is all out of control.
“For people who only think about negativity, don’t give them any of your energy, and those people will rot in hell because they don’t know how to say what they would do.
“One of the hardest things I’ve ever faced in my entire life.”
