The Court Split Brittany’s Safety From Cruz’s Time

A Los Angeles judge froze Jax Taylor’s time with his 5-year-old son after granting Brittany Cartwright a 100-yard stay-away order. Cartwright, 37, filed on Thursday, Aug. 27, and left court with protection for herself, her home, her car and Cruz’s school. She did not leave with sole custody.

On Tuesday, Sept. 1, the same court handed Taylor, 47, a temporary order of his own that expires on Sept. 24. The adults now have paper against each other. Their son has a paused calendar.

The Judge Gave Her 100 Yards, Not Sole Custody

Cartwright asked for a domestic violence restraining order in Los Angeles Superior Court and said Taylor had abused her as recently as Aug. 26. Her declaration described a “pattern of acts of domestic violence” dating to 2015, the year they began dating, and said she was in “genuine fear of my safety and my peace of mind.”

He now uses our required communications concerning Cruz to harass and threaten me, he makes threats of public humiliation on social media, and he continuously confronts me during custody-related interactions as additional means of intimidating, harassing, and disturbing my peace.

Brittany Cartwright, declaration, Los Angeles Superior Court

The judge granted the temporary order the same day. Taylor must stay 100 yards from Cartwright, from her home, from her car and from Cruz’s school. He is told not to harass, attack, strike, threaten, assault, follow, stalk or destroy her property, and not to use coercive control over her movements, contacts or money. California’s self-help bench explains those stay-away and no-contact orders in plain terms, including that a long-term order after a hearing can last up to five years and that there is no filing fee.

Two child asks failed at the ex parte stage. Cartwright wanted Cruz named as a protected person on the order, and the judge said no. She wanted sole custody five months after the pair signed a joint plan, and the judge said no pending a hearing. Taylor’s visits are denied until Sept. 17.

THE STAY-AWAY ON PAPER

• Distance: Taylor must stay 100 yards from Cartwright, her home, her car and Cruz’s school.
• Visits: His parenting time is denied until the Sept. 17 hearing.
• Sole custody: Denied for now, with the request parked for that same hearing.
• The child: Cruz was not added as a protected person on her order.

The filing walks through older alleged harm, including a July 2024 fight in which Cartwright said Taylor threatened to “gut me like a fish” and to kill her while throwing furniture. She submitted photos of a swollen, bruised knee she said came from a coffee table, and she said he broke at least three iPhones and one iPad. She also accused him of posting private OurFamilyWizard notes about Cruz on Instagram, Threads and X. They already keep logged co-parenting messages in that court-used app, so those screenshots sit in the file as parenting records, not gossip.

People facing abuse can find free confidential crisis help in more than 170 languages, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 and a text line at START to 88788.

Jax Walked In With His Own Paperwork

Taylor answered in two layers. On Friday, Aug. 28, he put out a statement that owned 2024 and drew a hard line under it. On Monday, Aug. 31, he asked a judge for a domestic violence restraining order against Cartwright, filed without notice to her, and denied “each and every allegation” in her papers.

I made a lot of mistakes and behaved in ways during that period of my life that I’m truly ashamed of and regret and take full responsibility for. The person I was in 2024, during the darkest time of my life and at the height of my addiction, is not the person I am today. I got help, went to treatment, and today I’m 1 year and 9 months sober.

Jax Taylor, Aug. 28 statement

He wrote that he was shocked to see claims about alleged incidents from over two years ago, and he said there have never been police reports or criminal charges tied to them. He said he strongly disputes allegations and that the rest belongs in court. He also said his focus is sobriety, mental health and being “the best father I can be to Cruz.”

His filing goes further than regret. He asked that Cartwright stay 100 yards from him, his home and his vehicle, that contact be limited to their son, and that she be barred from calling employers or prospective employers to harass or interfere with his work. He claimed they were “both verbally abusive to each other,” and he alleged she slapped him, pushed him, threw objects and food, and cursed him in front of Cruz. He said he wanted the papers issued without warning because he feared “a flood of denigrating statements on social media.”

A judge on Tuesday, Sept. 1, granted that request in part and denied it in part, noting that an adequate ruling needs a hearing. Taylor now holds a temporary restraining order that expires on Sept. 24, the same day as that court date. Which lines of his ask actually issued is not spelled out in the public recap of the minute order.

The Bravo audience has already moved the fight onto employment. After Cartwright’s filing, the loudest line on X was that Taylor should never work in television again. His paperwork tries to turn that climate into a legal injury, and her camp has not filed a public response to his request.

What the March Custody Deal Gave Each Parent

On March 10, 2026, when Cruz was 4, the parents signed a joint legal and physical custody deal after two years of arguing post-split. Taylor got every other weekend and Wednesday nights. Cartwright got the remaining days and the last word on medical care if they disagreed. Neither paid child support. Each covered costs while Cruz was in that parent’s care. They promised not to be under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or other drugs while he was with them, not to run each other down in front of him, to try to share birthdays, and to give Cartwright Christmas every year. New partners had to wait six months before an introduction, a clock that runs from March 10 to Sept. 10.

MARCH PLAN VERSUS THE FREEZE

The March deal is paused, not rewritten. A later judge can restore Wednesday nights, cut them, or convert Cartwright’s sole-custody ask into a lasting order. Until then the signed calendar is a document without a pickup.

He Says a Fox Paycheck Died at $175,000

Taylor’s filing puts a price on the television fight. He said he was hired in April for Fox’s Special Forces, which he called his first job after treatment, and that the booking was worth $175,000. He alleged Cartwright contacted the network, “chastised” it for “giving a platform to an abuser,” and warned of public blowback if Fox kept him. He said he was cut days before filming. Cartwright appeared on that show in 2025 and left on day one. Reps for Special Forces have not answered the claim.

He also wrote that two prospective business partners declined to work with him last month, one of them citing “the buzz surrounding [Jax’s] name right now.” His “sole regular income,” the filing said, is $5,000 a month in a deal set to expire in November. “His savings are rapidly diminishing,” the papers read. “His mental and emotional calm, rebuilt at great personal cost through recovery, has been destroyed.”

WHAT WE KNOW

• Her order: Granted Aug. 27, with a 100-yard stay-away and a visit freeze until Sept. 17.
• His filing: Submitted Aug. 31, denying every allegation and asking for distance, limited contact and an employer gag.
• His order: Partly granted Sept. 1 and set to expire Sept. 24, with a hearing that day.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Fox: No public confirmation that Cartwright’s call killed a $175,000 Special Forces slot.
• His terms: The public recap does not say which pieces of Taylor’s 100-yard ask actually issued.
• Police paper: Taylor says there are no reports or charges on the older incidents; that claim has not been independently matched to department files in the court coverage.

He used an August appearance by Cartwright on Watch What Happens Live as another exhibit. She said he had missed time with Cruz because he was in Canada with Lori Krebs, their former publicist. Taylor said Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 were Cartwright’s custodial weekend and called her version “knowingly false.” Krebs had been in Cartwright’s professional life for about 10 years, still on a retainer and still taking 10 percent, when photos of her with Taylor in Mexico landed. Cartwright called the romance a complete betrayal and said she had treated Krebs like family. The Bravo fight over that relationship is the heat under both filings, even though the captions are written as safety and sabotage.

Kindergarten Starts at 8 While Visits Sit Frozen

Cruz Cauchi is autistic, starts actual kindergarten this term, and lives on a clock that does not care about Bravo. Cartwright has said he needs to be at school for a kindergarten drop-off at 8 a.m. and that pickup is 2:32 p.m. He has an individualized education program, plus occupational and speech therapy outside school. She has described a sensory room at home and a happy kid who is “thriving.” Taylor, on World Autism Day in April, wrote that his son had changed how he sees the world, “with more patience, more understanding and a deeper love than I ever knew I had in me.”

In a July 2024 text fight that Cartwright put in her papers, she told Taylor their son was signed up for camp and going to We Rock the Spectrum, an inclusive sensory gym for autism that opened in Tarzana in 2010 as a cheaper alternative to private occupational therapy. She also told him pickups would be done on the street through a helper named Zuly, and that she would call police for trespassing if he came onto her property after a doorstep blowup in front of Cruz. Taylor’s alleged reply asked if that was a threat. Her alleged reply was that it was her home.

CRUZ’S WEEK RIGHT NOW

• School hours: Kindergarten from 8 a.m. to 2:32 p.m., with an IEP in place.
• Therapies: Occupational and speech work continue outside school.
• Taylor’s days: The Wednesday-night and every-other-weekend slots from March are on hold until Sept. 17.
• Partner clock: The six-month wait to introduce a new partner lands on Sept. 10, in the same month as both hearings.

That is the part of the file a camera cannot fix. A 100-yard bubble around mom and school can be served by a sheriff. A 5-year-old’s Wednesday night cannot be served by a press statement. The Bravo crowd arguing about whether Taylor belongs on TV is arguing about the wrong dependent. Cruz is the person whose routine actually changed last week.

Sept. 17 and Sept. 24 Are Now the Dates That Matter

California’s domestic violence process is built for speed, then for a fight on the record. A judge can grant a temporary order the same day or the next business day. The noticed hearing is supposed to land within 21 days, or 25 with good cause. Cartwright’s Aug. 27 grant plus 21 days is Sept. 17, which is the date already attached to Taylor’s frozen visits. His Aug. 31 filing plus 24 days is Sept. 24, inside the 25-day window, and that is when his short order expires.

If a restrained person skips the hearing after proper service, a judge can issue a restraining order that lasts up to five years. The papers can also carry child custody and parenting-time terms, which is why Cartwright’s sole-custody ask and Taylor’s visit freeze sit inside the same machine as the stay-away. A DV-110 temporary order is an arrestable court order, not a suggestion, until a judge extends, changes or drops it.

THE DATES ON THE COURT CALENDAR

1. Aug. 26, 2026: Cartwright cites the most recent alleged abuse in her request.
2. Aug. 27, 2026: She files. The judge grants her temporary order the same day and denies sole custody and Cruz’s inclusion as a protected person.
3. Aug. 28, 2026: Taylor releases the sober statement and disputes parts of her claims.
4. Aug. 29, 2026: Cartwright is photographed in Los Angeles and declines to discuss the order.
5. Aug. 31, 2026: Taylor files his own request, including the $175,000 Fox claim.
6. Sept. 1, 2026: A judge partly grants his temporary order, set to expire Sept. 24.
7. Sept. 17, 2026: Hearing attached to her order and to the visit freeze.
8. Sept. 24, 2026: His temporary order expires, with a court date the same day.

They married in 2019 after dating from 2015, separated in early 2024, and she filed for divorce that August. They were cut from Vanderpump Rules after season eight in 2020 and came back on The Valley in 2024. Taylor left that show in 2025 for treatment. Cartwright is still on it. The legal case is now moving faster than the series.

She Told Photographers She Was Okay

On Saturday, Aug. 29, Cartwright was stopped in Los Angeles and asked about the restraining order. “Nope,” she said. Asked if she had anything for fans, she said, “Just thanks for the support,” and added that she was okay. That is the clip the first wave of stories hung on. By Tuesday the file was heavier: two temporary orders, a frozen Wednesday, a kindergarten bell at 8, and a Fox paycheck that may or may not have existed.

Some of the Bravo conversation still treats the gut-threat language as a season plot, and some of it treats Cartwright’s timing as payback after Krebs. A third line, the one that showed up under a post saying Taylor should never be on TV again, is blunter: do not believe either of them. Court is where those readings get exhibits. Until Sept. 17, Cruz’s pickup is a one-parent job, and both adults are on a clock they no longer control.

The next public facts are dates, not quotes. A judge will decide whether Taylor’s Wednesday nights come back, whether Cartwright’s sole-custody ask sticks, and whether either stay-away outlives September. Cruz still has to be at school at 8.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting on public court papers, public statements and on-the-record comments. It is informational only and is not legal advice, medical advice or a finding that any allegation is true or false. Readers with questions about restraining orders, custody or safety planning should consult a licensed family-law attorney or a qualified advocate before acting on anything described here. Figures, hearing dates and the status of each order reflect the filings and statements available as of Sept. 2, 2026, and a later minute order can change them.