The divorce of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown was approved on Wednesday and will become final on April 24, PEOPLE has learned.
In addition, Orange County, Calif., Judge Franz E. Miller awarded custody of the couple's 14-year-old daughter, Bobbi Christina Brown, to Houston.
Brown, 40, and Houston, 43, were married for 14 years.
At times dabbing her eyes with a tissue during the court session, Houston testified that she did not require spousal or child support and that Bobbi Kristina could not depend on her father.
"He's unreliable," Houston said of Brown, according to the Associated Press. "If he says he's going to come, sometimes he does. Usually he doesn't."
Houston declined to comment to reporters after the hearing. Attorney Ram Cogan, representing Brown (who did not attend the hearing), said he will file a petition on behalf of his client to overturn the judge's decision.
Houston filed for legal separation from Brown on Sept. 8, and then filed for divorce in mid-October.
On Dec. 28, she requested a default judgment to fast-track the dissolution of the marriage.
Since their separation, Houston has been recording a new album with J Records president Clive Davis in Los Angeles.
Brown, meanwhile, has kept a low profile after being seen last fall alongside Mekhi Phifer and Stacey Dash on the Los Angeles film set of Nora's Hair Salon II. But just days after the split from his wife, Brown told PEOPLE, "I'm really saddened by the whole situation."
On Feb. 25, Brown was arrested in Massachusetts for failing to appear in court and pay child support fines. He owed money to ex-girlfriend Kim Ward, who lives in Massachusetts and with whom he has two teenage children: LaPrincia and Bobby III.
He was released after paying $19,150 and spending three nights in the Norfolk County jail.
Your Reaction
