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Kelly Rutherford has reportedly lost her custody battle, with a judge ruling her kids should permanently live in Monaco with their father Daniel Giersch.
As Gossip Cop has reported, Rutherford and her ex-husband have been in a years-long war over the care of their two children, 9-year-old Hermes and 6-year-old Helena. Giersch has been raising the kids in Monaco after a U.S. judge ordered them to live there in 2012 following his deportation from America. Since that ruling, Rutherford has argued that the judgment essentially deported the children, who are U.S. citizens, and has claimed that promised visits to the U.S. never happened, in addition to allegedly sometimes being denied visitation when she went abroad to see them.
Rutherford was granted temporary custody over the summer, allowing the children to come beck to the U.S. for the first time in years (see photo above). But after the U.S. courts decided that Monaco should have future jurisdiction over the case, the “Gossip Girl” star refused to send her kids back overseas. She was ultimately compelled to by a New York court to return them, and later traveled to Monaco to fight the case there.
Now, however, it’s reportedly been decided that Giersch should maintain full physical custody, with Rutherford only getting to visit her son and daughter “exclusively” in Monaco and France. As for legal custody, it’s said the exes will jointly make decisions regarding “health, schooling, religious education and any change of residence.” Vacations, such as school breaks and holidays, will be divided, but again, Rutherford will only be permitted to spend time with the kids overseas, despite her previous claims that the continued visits back and forth, plus legal expenses, have left her bankrupt.
That said, Rutherford will reportedly get a monthly child support payment of approximately $3,281. And in another small consolation, the court rejected Giersch’s request that any money she’s received for media appearances related to the kids be put into a bank account with his name. But the actress’ actions over the course of the custody battle is said to have played a role in th custody decision.
The ruling reportedly calls out Rutherford for holding on to her kids’ passports and refusing to have them vaccinated. Ultimately, the Monaco court found that “the children, who had lived in Monaco with their father for three and a half years, were perfectly content and that it was in their interests to remain” there with Giersch. Gossip Cop has reached out to a rep for Rutherford about the reported decision. We’ll have updates.
