WASHINGTON — Actress Sophie Turner has sued Joe Jonas for the return of their two children, saying in a court filing that Jonas refuses to hand over the kids' passports.
According to a petition filed Thursday in the Southern District of New York, Turner is accusing Jonas of the "wrongful retention" of their kids from "their habitual residence of England."
The 34-year-old Jonas Brothers singer filed earlier this month to end his marriage with the 27-year-old star of “Game of Thrones” in Florida's Miami-Dade County Court.
In her petition, Turner said the family had previously "made England their permanent home" and decided their children would temporarily remain with Jonas on tour this summer while she filmed a TV series in the U.K.
The court petition said their plan had been for the children to then return to England with Turner on Sept. 20. It said the couple met Sunday to discuss their separation, but Jonas now refuses to let their kids leave the country with their mother.
The filing also shared Turner's account of how their marriage ended, describing the "breakdown" of the marriage as happening "very suddenly."
The filing said the couple had an argument on Aug. 15 and Jonas filed for divorce around Sept. 1. It claims Turner found out about the divorce through the media on Sept. 5.
The petition said that Jonas' divorce filings incorrectly claimed that the children lived in Florida for six months prior to the filing.
In a statement provided to multiple media outlets, a representative for Jonas disputed that Turner wasn't aware of the divorce filing at the time.
"After multiple conversations with Sophie, Joe initiated divorce proceedings in Florida, as Florida is the appropriate jurisdiction for the case. Sophie was aware that Joe was going to file for divorce. The Florida Court has already entered an order that restricts both parents from relocating the children," the statement said.
The statement also accused Turner of using the petition's claims to try and move the divorce proceedings to the U.K. and to remove their children from the U.S. permanently.
The representative added that the children have been with Turner since the couple's meeting on Sunday. They added Jonas "is seeking shared parenting with the kids so that they are raised by both their mother and father, and is of course also okay with the kids being raised both in the U.S. and the U.K."
