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LOS ANGELES, May 24 (UPI) -- A California judge has granted American actress Kelly Rutherford sole legal and physical custody of her two children. People magazine reported the judge also ordered her son Hermes, 8, and daughter Helena, 5, be returned to Los Angeles from Monaco, where they had been living with their German father, Rutherford's ex-husband Daniel Giersch, since 2012.
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A previous legal decision allowed the children to live in Monaco with their father while he worked to secure entry back into the United States after his visa was revoked, however he has made no effort to do so in the past three years, Rutherford recently explained on The View.
"We are ecstatic, and hopeful that Monaco will respect the California court's ruling and send the children home. It has long been our position that Monaco has no jurisdiction because Hermes and Helena, as American citizens, have an absolute right to live in their own country," Rutherford's attorney Wendy Murphy told People. "If the citizenship shoe were on the other foot and these children were citizens of Monaco, I have no doubt the United States would respect their right to reside in Monaco. Monaco officials know that sending the children back to America is the right thing to do. I'm looking forward to the happy reunion of the children not only with their mother, but also with their country!"
Rutherford is known for her roles on TV's Gossip Girl and Melrose Place.
