Jesse James Cleared to Move to Austin with Daughter

July 21, 2010— -- Jesse James is free to move to Austin, Texas, with his daughter Sunny.

After a bitter custody battle with Sunny's mother, porn star Janine Lindemulder,, that dragged on for months, James was awarded physical custody of their eight-year-old daughter on Tuesday, clearing the way for him to move to Austin, where he recently bought a home. The move will bring him closer to ex-wife Sandra Bullock, who has also has a home in Austin and helped raise Sunny in the past.

Lindemulder, who won custody of Sunny over the summer, did not take the ruling lightly. "I'll move, I'll move!" she screamed after the judge made the ruling, according to TMZ.

Although the judge gave both parents joint legal custody, James was given physical custody. After the hearing in Orange County, Calif., Lindemulder told TMZ that she could not compete with James and Bullock the "nice things they provide."

Though the judge allowed her to have physical custody of Sunny until school starts in Texas, Lindemulder told TMZ she may let her daughter move there early. "Someday I will be her mother again," she said.

Lindemulder has been fighting to regain custody of Sunny ever since she gave it up to serve six months in prison for tax evasion. The star of more than 100 porn films told "Good Morning America" last November that her life was back on track.

But James, with the help of then-wife Bullock, fought to keep Sunny, saying Lindemulder's new husband, also a convicted felon, was unfit and accusing Lindemulder of leaving the child alone while she was "asleep from drug use."

With the custody battle behind him, nothing is stopping James from moving to Texas, where some believe he is making a play to win back Bullock.

James Move to Austin: For Kids or Him?

The custom bike builder just bought a $1.9 million estate in Austin, the same town where Bullock, 45, owns a home and the couple once lived together.

"He's like that boyfriend you can never get rid of," Popeater gossip columnist Rob Shuter told ABCNews.com. "Part of me admires his determinism. But when does it become a stalker? This is just a little bit creepy now. Following her around isn't going to win her back."

James, 41, has made no secret of his desire to win his ex-wife back after she split from him in April amid reports that he had multiple affairs.

Just over a month ago he told Vicki Mabrey of ABC News' "Nightline," "I still really love her and care about her."

In court documents filed earlier and obtained by TMZ, Lindemulder claimed that Jesse's reasons for wanting to move to Texas with Sunny -- "so his children could continue their relationship with Sandra Bullock" -- were "wholly unjustified."

Pointing to Bullock's move to Austin, Lindemulder said, "Certainly if that relationship were that important to Sandra, she would have stayed in California."

Since completing a month-long stint in rehab, James has been trying to rebuild his life and win back his wife.

A friend of his told People magazine in May that James does not believe his relationship with Bullock has "reached the final chapter."

"He is not giving up hope that Sandra will come back to her family," the friend said.

If James is hoping to write a new chapter in their relationship, it appears Bullock is ready to move on.

In June, at the MTV Movie Awards, Bullock stole the show when she locked lips with Scarlett Johansson.

"Now that we have done that," Bullock announced afterwards, "can we please go back to normal?"

Final Chapter for James and Bullock?

"Sandra wants things to get back to normal," Shuter said. "She can't put that period at the end of a sentence. Every time she tries to end it, he does something that picks the scab off this wound."

In May, James, planning to move to Austin, put up for sale the two-story California beachfront property that was the couple's home during their nearly five-year marriage.

James is no stranger to Austin, having lived there off and on with Bullock. He also owns Austin Speed Shop, a custom-car business.

But Bullock, who also owns several businesses in Austin, has lived there longer and, as the wronged spouse, has the community's sympathy on her side.

"There's a level of affection that I've never seen before," said Shuter, who spoke with many of the locals. "The locals are worried. Given the amount of pain that Jesse has obviously caused her, it's not going to get any easier for her. A lot of people are worried it might get too much for her and that she might pull up roots and move."

Bullock recently purchased a home in New Orleans, the birthplace of her adopted son Louis Bardo.

James, who began the adoption process with Bullock before their breakup, has spoken about wanting to have a relationship with Louis, as well as to have Bullock maintain her relationship with his three children from previous marriages.

But Shuter said the idea that James would need to live in the same town in order for that to happen is just a ruse. "It's not a plausible excuse," he said. "Their wealth makes the rules different. If he wants to hire a private plane for the kids to hang out with Sandra, he can."

Bullock appears to have the left the door open for James to have a relationship with Louis. "I really don't know how our paths will intersect in the future, but the father I have known Jesse to be with all the kids is one that I hope Louis can experience one day, no matter how Jesse and I go on with our lives," she told People in April.

Last month, Lindemulder cast doubts on James' motive for moving. She told In Touch Weekly that James had said that if he couldn't reunite with Bullock, "he's got a 'backup plan' with another girl in Austin."

"Imagine him saying he is moving to Austin to be a dad to 5-month-old Louis and to be there for Sandra, uprooting Sunny -- and it's because he might be pursuing mistresses," she said. "He could be off his rocker."