Great news for Britney Spears today … the ruling judge overseeing her ongoing custody case for her young sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, has extended the 50/50 custody ruling put in place earlier this year to last at least thru the end of 2009. After Britney’s scary melt-down in early 2008, Britney lost custody rights to her children and their father, Kevin Federline, became their primary custodial caregiver. Since Britney’s recovery, she has slowly won back visitation rights to see her sons and then earlier this year won back equal custody rights to share with K-Fed … for a price:

Britney Spears will share 50/50 custody with Kevin Federline at least through the end of the year — TMZ has learned. An L.A. County Superior Court judge extended the order that was initially put in place for Britney’s concert tour. Under the terms, Britney gets to travel with Sean Preston and Jayden James and must provide K-Fed with a place to stay if he wants to follow them on tour. Sources tell us the sealed order is very detailed, but Britney gets minimum 50/50 custody and at times even more. As for Kevin, in addition to the $20,000 a month Britney pays him in child support, he gets between $20,000 and $25,000 a month when the kids are outside of California. At the end of the year the judge will reevaluate custody. We’re told it’s looking like a 50/50 split is the way of the future.
You may recall that the order states that K-Fed has to be PAID by Britney extra money IN ADDITION to his regular child support payments. The good news is that the order has been extended and Britney will get just as much time with her sons as K-Fed does, the bad news is that she’ll be shelling out LOTS of money to her slimy, overfed ex-husband for the right to see her children. It’s a gross situation but I commend Britney for doing what she has to do to be with her children. A 50/50 split is the best either parent can hope for so this is great news for our dear Britney. She has come a very long way since her breakdown … I think her success with her children has been her greatest accomplishment.
[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]