Sophie Turner has filed a lawsuit against her estranged husband Joe Jonas over the “wrongful retention” of the couple’s two children.
Turner claims that Jonas is preventing the children from returning to their “forever home” in England. Specifically, Turner says Jonas refuses to return the children’s passports to her after they previously reached an agreement for the children to return to England with their mother during the week of September 17th.
In court documents (via The Messenger), filed Thursday in the southern district of New York, Turner’s attorneys say Jonas is violating her “rights of custody under English law” and cite the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. “Objectives of the Convention are to secure the immediate return of children wrongfully removed or wrongfully retained in any Contracting State, and to ensure that ‘rights to custody’ under the law of one Contracting State are effectively respected in other Contracting States,” the petition notes.
Turner’s attorneys state that the children are “fully involved and integrated in all aspects of daily and cultural life in England… participate in extracurricular activities, playdates, and cultural activities,” and receive their medical care in the country.
Update: In a new statement, a representative for Jonas called Turner’s lawsuit “an unfortunate legal disagreement,” and said that, “When language like ‘abduction’ is used, it is misleading at beast, and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst.”
“The children were not abducted,” the representative added. “After being in Joe’s care for the past three months at the agreement of both parties, the children are currently with their mother. Sophie is making this claim only to move the divorce proceedings to the UK and to remove the children from the US permantely.” The representative also said that the children were born in the US and are American citizens.
Jonas filed for divorce from Turner on September 1st. In her lawsuit, Turner claims she first learned of the divorce through the media.
Earlier this week, Turner went on a girls night out with Jonas’ other famous ex, Taylor Swift.
Editor’s Note: Read Kayleigh Donaldson’s essay on why the Joe Jonas-Sophie Turner split should change how we consume celebrity gossip.