Madonna and Guy Ritchie's Custody Battle Ends as Rocco Ritchie Returns to Manhattan

People
Updated
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Madonna and Guy Ritchie (Photos: Steve Granitz/WireImage and David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock)

Rocco Ritchie is back in the Big Apple as the battle over his custody appears to be drawing to a close.

The teen was spotted grabbing coffee with some friends in Manhattan Tuesday morning before heading to his mother’s home – his first time back in the States since late last year.

Although Madonna, 57, and Guy Ritchie, 47, were originally expected in court Wednesday for a tentatively scheduled hearing over their 15-year-old son’s living arrangements, the case now appears to be disposed, motion pending by the New York State Supreme Court.

While it’s unclear whether the singer – who ended her “Rebel Heart” tour in March – has been in town alongside her son, it’s evident that she has been making an obvious effort to work on her relationship with Rocco.

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Rocco Ritchie at the NYC premiere of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in August. (Photo: Getty Images)

Just days before Christmas, Madonna filed an order in London asking that Rocco return home to New York City under child abduction laws.

While a judge ruled that Rocco must return to the United States by the following month to abide by the custody agreement, according to reports, Ritchie’s attorney Eric Buckley told Justice Deborah Kaplan the teen “has expressed very clearly that he does not want to return to New York.”

On March 21, High Court Judge Alistair MacDonald released a ruling that allowed Madonna to withdraw her U.K. proceedings.

“As I observed during the course of the hearing, summer does not last forever,” the judge wrote. “The boy very quickly becomes the man. It would be a very great tragedy for Rocco if any more of the precious and fast receding days of his childhood were to be taken up by this dispute. Far better for each of his parents to spend that time enjoying, in turn, the company of the mature, articulate and reflective young man who is their son and who is a very great credit to them both.”

While MacDonald did not rule that Rocco needed to return to New York to be with his mother, he did return the teen’s passport so he could make trips to see Madonna if he wished to do so.

In late April, the singer visited her son in London as they worked to repair their relationship.