Kelly Rutherford's battle for custody to bring her kids to the U.S. has received a major blow when a judge in Monaco made a decision against her petition.
According to a report by People, the judge granted her German ex-husband, Daniel Giersch, full custody of their kids Helena, 6, and Hermes, 9. This is a very devastating defeat for Rutherford, who had high hopes of bringing her kids back to America.
In the court documents gathered by the Daily Mail, the 47-year-old actress will have visiting and accommodation rights over the minor children, unless there is a different negotiation agreed by both parties.
The court order added that visiting and accommodation rights can only be exercised in France or Monaco. The decision is definitely not what she expected from the judge, but the court ruling is already final. There is nothing that she can do now, but to follow the order.
Although the decision totally surprised Rutherford, many legal experts in the U.S. thinks that she did not have any case and was destined to lose.
The former "Gossip Girl" star was involved in a high-profile case when she refused to let her kids go back to Monaco where they have been living together with their father, Giersch.
The kids spent the whole summer with the actress in the U.S. but, when she decided to hold them up, a Supreme court Judge from New York ordered the return of the children as soon as possible. Giersch, on his part, referred to the incident as "kidnapping."
The head of Mishcon de Reya New York, Michael Stutman, said he was not surprised by the court ruling against Rutherford in Monaco and added that her "failure to deliver the children... likely bought them a one-way ticket to Monaco. Given Kelly's initial failure to send the children back, showing up without them was probably the nail in her coffin."
He also said that, if Rutherford believes that it is very difficult for her to travel to Monaco, she should have not "kidnapped" the kids and should have returned them to their father accordingly, without any controversy, according the report relayed by People.
A lawyer from New York Susan Moss, who has nothing to do with the case, gave her own opinion about the situation and said that the actress has no one to blame but herself, referring to Rutherford's decision not to return the kids to Monaco.
