Young And Restless’s Five Nastiest Custody Fights

Combative exes Kyle and Summer have been gearing up for a contentious custody battle over Harrison on Young and Restless, which Summer now hopes they can settle out of court. If they do land before a judge, chances are it would get nasty, just like these five other heated tug-of-wars over children in Genoa City history (including one for Kyle himself).

 

Jill vs. Katherine

After growing up in the boarding school where his mom, Jill (then Brenda Dickson. upper r.) dumped him, Phillip returned to Genoa City as a young man ready for college. Since Phillip resented Mumsy for years of neglect, he decided to move in with her mortal enemy, Katherine (Jeanne Cooper), who provided Phillip with the maternal nurturing that he never got from Jill. When she found out that her son had bonded with Kay, Jill sought control by suing for custody. In court, Phillip learned the scandalous history of his birth — he was the product of an affair between Jill and Kay’s late husband, Phillip, and Kay had made sure that young Phillip would never be able to legally use the last name Chancellor. Hurt, Phillip shunned Katherine, but eventually forgave her. When Phillip testified of the love and support he had received from Katherine, the judge granted La Chancellor temporary custody, which deepened the bitter feud between the two women. Katherine then was instrumental in getting her charge’s name legally changed to Phillip Chancellor III so he could claim his birthright.

Jill vs. John

After Jill (Jess Walton) became pregnant by her ex-hubby John Abbott (Jerry Douglas) in 1993, they remarried. The couple enjoyed marital bliss as they raised their baby son, Billy — until the following year when John was hit with a bout of impotence that soon had Jill climbing the walls for male attention. She found that with Jed and when Abbott housekeeper Mamie discovered the affair, she promptly blabbed about it to John, who filed for divorce. He also wanted Billy full-time and a custody battle ensued. John and Jill’s contentious fight for Billy spilled over to 1995 (and John also took up with Mamie). In court, Jill didn’t hold back and testified that before she got pregnant, John had gotten a vasectomy without her knowledge because he didn’t want any more kids. Before a decision was rendered, John suffered a stroke. Jill ultimately convinced John to reconcile so they could be full-time parents to Billy. Not wanting Mamie’s presence to be a distraction, Jill offered the devoted domestic a huge amount of money to scram. Mamie accepted the payout and left on a world cruise.

 

Danny vs. Phyllis

In 1994, Danny Romalotti (Michael Damian) and Phyllis (then-Sandra Nelson) had married under false pretenses: she manipulated the paternity test that falsely named him as the responsible party of her pregnancy, which resulted in Daniel. Pining for true love Cricket, Danny was miserable in his marriage and finally got the divorce he badly wanted in 1996. However, Daniel’s near death from bacterial meningitis brought the exes together and upon seeing a new side of Phyllis, Danny willingly retied the knot with her. Then another blood test proved he wasn’t Daniel’s biological father, so Danny dumped his deceitful wife and sued her for full custody. The details of how Phyllis purposely duped the rock star into believing Daniel was his biological kin convinced the judge she was an undesirable parent and Danny won his case. He soon departed on a European tour and Phyllis rarely saw Daniel while he was growing up on the road.

Alice vs. Sharon

When Sharon (Sharon Case, l.) was a teenager, she got pregnant by her high school boyfriend, Frank. Sharon delivered a girl, who she gave up for adoption, but in 1997, after giving birth to her son with Nick, Noah, her best friend, Grace, tracked down Sharon’s firstborn, now named Cassie. Grace learned that 6-year-old Cassie had endured a very neglectful upbringing; her adoptive mom, Alice (Tamara Clatterbuck), flitted in and out chasing men, often leaving her daughter in the care of her elderly mother, Millie. As Alice was off on one of her pursuits, Millie agreed to let Grace take Cassie to her bio mom. After Sharon was reunited with Cassie, Alice returned home in 1998 and was furious that her mother let Grace leave with Cassie. Alice hired Michael Baldwin to help her regain the little girl. Although Cassie was happily living with the Newmans, she was still Alice’s legal daughter, which Sharon contested. Alice quickly married her creepy boyfriend, Al, to improve her chances in court, but Christine, Sharon’s counsel, shattered that image when she revealed during the proceedings that Al had previously been convicted of intent to expose himself to a child, causing Alice to scream at her new hubby to get out of her life. On the stand, Nick confirmed that he has come to love Cassie as his own, but hurt Sharon’s case by admitting during cross-examination that he and Sharon never searched for the child’s adoptive mother. Alice dug in her heels, determined to reclaim Cassie until she had an unexpected heart-to-heart with Sharon, mother to mother. Sharon’s impassioned plea moved Alice to drop her suit, give up her parental rights, and allow Cassie to stay with the Newmans.

Jack vs. Diane

It’s a long story, but in 2000, a snafu at a sperm bank resulted in Diane (Susan Walters) being artificially inseminated with Jack’s (Peter Bergman) sample; only Nikki knew the identity of the sire. After giving birth to Kyle in January 2001, Diane moved to Italy. Nikki’s unannounced visit to secretly check on the baby’s welfare piqued Diane’s curiosity. She returned to the U.S. and eventually discovered, along with Jack, that he was Kyle’s father. Diane wanted them to live together as a family, but he was married to Phyllis, and they were trying for their own child. Diane employed tricks and stunts to derail Jack’s relationship, so he sued her for custody. On the witness stand, Phyllis blew the case because of her own history of being declared an unfit mother, but Jack later used the intel that Diane had tried to set up Phyllis for arson to blackmail Diane into forking over custody. However, when Jack and Phyllis started having major marital problems, Jack shielded his boy from the strife by relinquishing custody back to Diane.