July 18, 2008

50 Cent Granted More Time With His Son At Family Court Hearing

By Gil Kaufman (MTV.com)

50 Cent was in Long Island Family Court on Thursday (July 17) for a custody hearing, during which a judge granted his request for more time with his 11-year-old son, Marquise.

According to 50's lawyer, Brett Kimmel, the judge said 50 - who recently told MTV News that the lack of quality time with his son was impacting their relationship - can have unrestricted time with Marquise from August 3-12. Kimmel said he knew Marquise would be staying with 50 during that time but that he had no other information about what their plans were.

Both 50 and his estranged girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, had to submit to drug tests at the courthouse before the judge would discuss custody issues with them at the request of the child's attorney, and both agreed to the rapid tests. Kimmel said 50's came back negative but that Tompkins' sample tested positive for opiates, which she explained by saying she was taking a medicine with codeine. Tompkins' lawyer had not returned calls for comment at press time.

The estranged couple will be back in family court September 8 for a trial on whether Tompkins is entitled to an order of protection against 50. There is a temporary restraining order in place now that requires the rapper to stay curbside when picking up or dropping off Marquise and bans 50 from being on any property at the same time as Tompkins.

But first, they will be in court August 19 to fight about the insurance proceeds from the 50-owned home where Tompkins lived with the couple's son before it burned down in a suspicious fire in May.