Attorneys for the husband of a murdered Cary woman have thrown a twist into the custody battle over the couple's two young daughters.

Brad Cooper's lawyers filed a pair of motions Wednesday.

Full Coverage And Timeline: Nancy Cooper Murder Case

A Motion to Bifurcate Hearing is asking that the entire issue be divided in two (Bifurcate means "to cause to divide into two branches or parts" according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

Additionally, attorneys filed a Motion In Limine, which is asking that certain pieces of evidence not be introduced relating to one of those parts until the court has ruled on the other.

According to the motions, the defense is asking the judge to prevent "the Plaintiffs from putting on any evidence concerning the best interests of the minor child until the court has heard and ruled upon the fitness of the defendant to care for his minor children or whether he has acted inconsistent with his parental rights."

The motions say that the well being of the children is a valid argument between two parents, but because this case pits a father against grandparents, the father would have to be deemed "unfit" for that to have any bearing.

Basically, the defense is saying that plaintiffs have not provided "statutory authority" warranting anything more than the original emergency custody order - and therefore, they should only be allowed to submit evidence that the girls would be in "a substantial risk to bodily injury" or abduction "for the purpose of evading jurisdiction."

Attorneys for Brad Cooper contend that he and the two girls are legally an "intact family" the burden is on Nancy Cooper's family, since no custody order has been filed; the two sides came to an out-of-court agreement once the emergency custody order expired).

That out-of-court agreement is set to expire on Oct. 13.