Kris Connor/ Getty ImagesKelly Rutherford's summer seemed to have just clouded over—but maybe not.
A judge just awarded her ex-husband Daniel Giersch what seemed to be a victory in their ongoing custody battle, ruling that California does not have jurisdiction over the case. The actress' two children have been living primarily with their dad abroad in Monaco for the past several years.
Helena, 6, and Hermes, 8, are currently with their mom after flying into New York earlier this month to spend the summer with her.
Giersch's camp had argued that a California court had misjudged the situation when they awarded Rutherford primary custody in May, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Juhas subsequently agreed today that it wasn't his court's right to do so.
"The court relinquishes jurisdiction over the two children as California no longer has jurisdiction," Juhas wrote in his ruling, a copy of which was obtained E! News. "The court does not believe that it is obligated to relinquish jurisdiction to Monaco, only that it acknowledge that it no longer has jurisdiction over the children."
"Given the fact that the children have only spent approximately one week in California in over two years, if these children have any connection to California, it is tenuous at best," the ruling also stated.
"We are extremely disappointed," Rutherford's L.A.-based attorney David Glass tells E! News. "This court set up the current situation whereby my client was forced to live bi-coastally, but now, the court appears to be holding it against her. Likewise, the court created the situation whereby the children would lose their connections to California, and despite the Judgment's language precluding the passage of time from creating new jurisdiction, that is exactly what has happened."
However, Wendy Murphy, who represents Rutherford in New York (where the actress spends the majority of her time), sounded thoroughly satisfied with the ruling.
"Exactly what we wanted to happen has happened," she told E! News in a statement. "We filed in New York to provoke California to issue a ruling and the judge reacted as we had hoped. Now California—thankfully—will have no power to ruin the children's lives any further!! We are pleased that at long last this legal atrocity has been extricated from the grip of California's horrific family court system."
Giersch's attorney, Fahi Takesh Hallin, said in a statement: "Daniel will continue to promote Kelly's relationship with the children. He believes that the children deserve to love both parents and has never nor does he intend to ever participate in any negative press directed at Kelly. As always, Daniel will continue to guard the privacy of the children, in their best interests and for their safety."
Either way, it sounds as though this saga is shifting to New York, which also means a shorter commute to Monaco.
Rutherford and Giersch split up in 2010 after roughly four years of marriage. Their kids have been primarily in Monaco with Giersch since 2012 and the former Gossip Girl star filed for bankruptcy in 2013, stating that the costs of fighting the custody battle had depleted her finances.
—Reporting by Baker Machado and Senta Scarborough