Future Drops Lawsuit Against Ciara After Being Awarded Joint Custody; Will ‘Body Party’ Singer Still Sue?

Future is switching up the way he deals with Ciara after a judge awarded him joint custody of their son, Future Zahir Wilburn. The pair were set to face off in court against one another for a second time, but it seems the “Wicked” rapper has had a change of heart.

According to TMZ, Future requested that his countersuit against Ciara — filed in response to her defamation lawsuit from February — be dismissed. Sources in the rapper’s inner circle say he hopes that by not taking legal action against Ciara, he will be able to change the dynamic between them. Future, 32, reportedly wants to be civil with his son’s mother and fears that moving forward with the countersuit would push her to restrict their custody agreement. Future’s decision to dismiss legal filings has done little to change Ciara’s mind, however. She reportedly plans to move forward with her initial lawsuit.

On May 17, TMZ reported that Future and Ciara — who were engaged until April 2014 — faced off in court over custody. The mother-of-one reportedly went into the trial seeking full custody of her son, claiming that her former fiancé had been absent through much of baby Future’s life. Her legal team bashed his parenting abilities, calling him a bad father and a terrible person. Despite her best efforts, the judge ruled in Future’s favor — as is often the case in California. According to TMZ, the court system tends to gravitate towards shared custody when possible. The judge presiding over the case heard and rejected Ciara, 30, and her lawyers’ arguments.

At the same time, the former couple was also dealing with their separate lawsuits against one another. In April, it was reported that Future, 32, planned to countersue Ciara. In legal documents obtained by TMZ, the BET Hip Hop Award-winner responded to claims from Ciara that he’d damaged her career by discussing their custody issues on social media. As E! Online reported at the time, Future once tweeted to his 2.54 million followers that he had been barred from seeing his son, adding that the entire ordeal started over “[$]15K a month.” Future also called Ciara a “b----.” In his legal filings, Future claimed that regardless of what he said, Ciara’s career would be impossible to damage because it’s over and has been for some time.

Still, Future claims he’s not the only one who has spoken ill of the other. On Feb. 2, not long after Ciara filed her initial lawsuit against Future, the rapper called their legal battle “absurd.” One source told TMZ, he was confused as to why his ex-fiancée would attack him for his comments when she’d been critiquing his parenting abilities and slamming him in her music. The source cited the lyrics to Ciara’s single “I Bet,” in which she sings about moving on with “somebody better.”

Future has yet to speak out about Ciara’s decision to move forward with her lawsuit. It remains unclear how his decision will change their co-parenting agreement.