Kelly Rutherford Refuses to Send Her Kids Back to Monaco

Kelly Rutherford has put her foot down and decided that she will not send her kids back to Monaco despite a court order that says she must.

The 46-year-old actress was supposed to fly her two kids – Hermes, 8, and Helena, 6 – back to Monaco to be with her ex-husband Daniel Giersch on Thursday, but never made the trip.

“These past three years waiting for my children to come home have been very difficult. My children were forced to leave the United states in 2012 when they were only 2 and 5 years old,” Kelly told People. “In May, a judge in California gave me sole custody and brought them home. I am immensely grateful and overjoyed to have them back. Since May, however, the court proceedings have been confusing.”

Kelly added that because neither California or New York, where she tried getting her case heard, will claim jurisdiction, “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. Hence, I have decided that I cannot lawfully send my children away from the United States to live in a foreign country.”

Click inside to read the rest of Kelly Rutherford’s statement…

“The Monaco court treated me with respect when I appeared there earlier this year to file a formal objection to their jurisdiction,” Kelly continues. “I believe Monaco appreciates why it cannot assert jurisdiction over my children, and that Monaco will respect my children’s right to reside in their own country.”

“I hope that this decision will end this painful litigation, and that my children will be allowed to live in peace in their own country,” she added. “Like all German citizens, my ex-husband can presumably travel to the United States on his German passport and exercise his parental rights in this country, just as I have done for the past three years in France and Monaco on my U.S. passport. I pray that officials in this country and in Monaco will agree that three years in exile is a very long time in a child’s life, and that my children have a right to remain, once and for all, in the United States.”