Kelly Rutherford faces new hurdle in 6-year custody battle

LOS ANGELES, July 24 (UPI) -- Kelly Rutherford will have to continue her fight for custody of her children overseas since a California judge ruled the state no longer has jurisdiction over her case.

In the ruling obtained by Yahoo, Judge Mark Juhas wrote: "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."

What is confusing to many, including ABC legal correspondent Dan Abrams, is that the California court originally sent the children to Monaco, and is now claiming loss of power over the case because they live there.

"What? Same California court that sent @KellyRutherford U.S. kids to Europe just ruled it no longer has jurisdiction bc kids live in Europe!" Abrams tweeted Thursday.

Kelly Rutherford case is an outrage. Court took kids away, promised it would be temporary and just made it permanent http://t.co/cKxtFHuNlV

— Dan Abrams (@danabrams) July 23, 2015

Rutherford's lawyer, David J. Glass, said in a statement he and his client are "extremely disappointed" with the court's decision. "Although the court agreed with our analysis of the law, and in fact agreed with our position that citizens can have more than one residence for jurisdictional purposes, the court ultimately did not agree with us on the facts."

"The court set up the current situation whereby my client was forced to live bi-coastally, but now, the court appears to have held it against her," he said. "Despite promising these children that their absence from the U.S. would not be used to change jurisdiction, [the court] has now done just that."

The Gossip Girl actress' two children, Helena and Hermes, live full-time with their father, Daniel Giersch, in Monaco although they are spending the summer with her in the U.S. Entertainment Tonight reports they are required to return to their father at the end of summer.

In order to continue her six-year custody battle, Rutherford can fight for custody in Monaco instead. However, the claim that the children's right as U.S. citizens to live in their country had more clout in California courts.