Judge Orders Actress Kelly Rutherford To Return Kids To Monaco In International Custody Battle
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Manhattan judge has ordered actress Kelly Rutherford to return her children to their father overseas.
The "Melrose Place" and "Gossip Girl" actress was supposed to send her 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter back home to their father, businessman Daniel Giersch, in Monaco but refused to do so on Friday, CBS2's Jill Nicolini reported.
The children are leaving today with their paternal grandmother to return to Monaco. If Rutherford had refused she could have been arrested, 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reported.
"We are pleased that the American judicial system has prevailed. Daniel's request to exclude the press today from the courtroom was granted, to protect the children's privacy. In addition, his stance of promoting Kelly's time with the children has not changed," Giersch's attorney Fahi Takesh Hallin said in a statement.
Since 2008, the actress Giersch, have been caught up in a bitter custody battle.
In 2012, a California judge sent the children to live with their father in France because his U.S. visa had been revoked and they would spend the summers in New York with their mother.
The actress has been trying to move her children back to the United States, but had two setbacks this summer when both California and New York family courts ruled they no longer have jurisdiction over the case.
Actress Kelly Rutherford Loses Court Battle
Rutherford released a written statement over the weekend saying, "No state in this country is currently protecting my children. It also means that no state in this country currently requires me to send the children away."
"I have decided that I cannot lawfully send my children away from the United States to live in a foreign country," Rutherford added.
Although Rutherford disobeyed Monaco's court order, her side argued that Giersch hasn't complied with the 2012 ruling which required him to renew his visa and envisioned the family living in America together, Nicolini reported.
Giersch has accused Rutherford of kidnapping and says anyone associating themselves with her is violating the law.
