For Luka Doncic, the past several months have brought a situation far removed from the basketball court. While the Lakers star has been dealing with an ongoing custody dispute involving his two daughters, the matter has stretched across two countries and several legal proceedings.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The dispute has already affected Doncic’s plans away from the NBA. He skipped Slovenia’s 2026 summer national team campaign while trying to spend time with his daughters, and a separate child support case filed in Los Angeles was dismissed in August. With the NBA season now beginning, the legal situation remains unresolved.
Now, Doncic has filed a petition under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in Slovenia, seeking to secure access to his two daughters and facilitate their movement between Slovenia and the United States, according to The Athletic’s Dan Woike. On October 2, Doncic told The Athletic, “Nothing is more important to me than my daughters. I will do whatever it takes to make sure they have both parents present in their lives.” In May, while explaining his decision to skip Slovenia’s national team, Doncic said, “As I continue working toward joint custody of my daughters, I have been forced to make a difficult decision between traveling and playing for the Slovenian national team and being with my daughters this summer. Unfortunately, it has been made extremely difficult for me to see them over the past eight months.”
The petition was filed with a Slovenian family court, where proceedings involving minor children are sealed and not publicly available. No court ruling, public procedural calendar or court-sanctioned visitation agreement has been made public, and the petition remains pending. Doncic returned to California in late September for Lakers training camp.
The Hague Convention provides a legal process for international disputes involving children and parental access across borders. The United States and Slovenia are both parties to the 1980 convention. A Hague petition can address the return of a child or rights of access, but filing one does not decide permanent custody and does not automatically mean the children will be moved to the United States.
The latest filing follows several legal developments this year. On February 26, Doncic filed an interim injunction and parental-contact petition in Slovenia. Then, on March 9, Goltes filed a child support and attorney-fee petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Doncic’s attorney, Laura Wasser, moved to dismiss the California case, arguing that California lacked jurisdiction because Goltes and the children lived in Slovenia.
Goltes later asked for the California case to be dismissed. In her August 3 declaration, she said, “I am withdrawing my petition for child support with the specific intention of resolving this matter amicably and by a mutual agreement which is in the best interests of our children.” The Los Angeles County Superior Court dismissed the case without prejudice on August 14.
The custody dispute has also been part of Doncic’s decisions with Slovenia. In May, he explained why he would not play for the national team, directly connecting the decision to his efforts to maintain contact with his daughters. The Basketball Federation of Slovenia acknowledged his personal situation and did not issue disciplinary action.
Doncic and Goltes began dating in 2016 and became engaged in July 2023. Their older daughter, Gabriela, was born in the United States in November 2023, while their younger daughter, Olivia, was born in Slovenia in December 2025. Both children currently reside in Slovenia with Goltes.
Doncic has also spoken publicly about how the dispute has affected his family life. In March, he said, “I love my daughters more than anything, but being apart has not been possible, so I recently made the tough decision to end my engagement. Everything I do is for my daughters’ happiness and I will always fight to be with them and give them the best life I can.”
An informal target to resolve the custody matter by September 25 passed without an agreement, according to The Athletic. That date was not a court-ordered deadline.
Now, with the Hague petition pending in Slovenia and Doncic back in Los Angeles for the Lakers season, the international custody dispute remains unresolved. The filing is another legal step in Doncic’s effort to maintain access to his daughters, but it does not itself determine permanent custody or guarantee that they will relocate to the United States.