Mama June Wins Major Custody Victory

Mama June Shannon has been granted custody of late daughter Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell’s daughter Kaitlyn after a contentious court battle with Anna’s ex-husband, Michael Cardwell.

Court documents obtained by InTouch Weekly indicate the Mama June: Road to Redemption star, 45, was awarded custody of her 12-year-old granddaughter on Friday, Sept. 20, after a Georgia judge ruled “legal and physical custody of the minor child is to remain with [Shannon] and [Michael] will have no right to visitation as such, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties and the minor child.”

Michael is not Kaitlyn’s father but began dating Anna in 2013. The two went on to get married in May 2014 but separated in April 2017. In December 2023, Michael filed to regain custody and visitation of his stepdaughter after Anna’s death at age 29 on Dec. 9, 2023, following her stage 4 adrenal carcinoma diagnosis. Anna also left behind her 8-year-old daughter Kylee, who is Michael’s biological child. 

In the custody ruling, a Wilkinson County judge wrote that while Kaitlyn did sometimes spend time with her sister while in Michael’s custody and had stayed with him for up to five weeks at a time over the past year, “[Michael] never provided any significant financial support for [Kaitlyn].” Court documents also reveal that a family therapist testified Kaitlyn “fears being taken away from” her grandmother and expressed a desire to stay with Shannon. 

The WeTV star had previously been awarded temporary custody of Kaitlyn earlier this year amid the court battle with the little girl’s stepfather. Michael had originally argued that Anna’s daughters shouldn’t be separated, claiming that Shannon and Anna’s relationship was a strained one. 

Shannon alleged in her own filing that Michael had been abusive to Anna while they were married, allegations he denied to InTouch at the time, claiming through an attorney that they “simply separated due to differences in opinions and personalities.”

In a June 2024 episode of Mama June: Family Crisis, Anna expressed a desire for her husband Eldridge Toney, whom she married in March 2023 after five years of dating, to gain custody of both girls. “Kaitlyn will be better off with me because there is stability,” Shannon said at the time. “But Eldridge has been in Kaitlyn’s life since she was around 5 years old. Honestly, she needs to put this s— on paper.”