FILE Musician Joe Jonas, left, takes a selfie with actress Sophie Turner during a break in play of an NBA basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Sacramento Kings, Saturday, March 9, 2019, in New York. Turner sued her estranged pop star husband Jonas on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023, to force him to turn over the passports of the couple’s two young daughters so she can take them to England. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
Two weeks after a federal judge ordered divorcing stars Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas to keep their young daughters in New York until further notice, attorneys have notified the court that recent “productive mediation” talks have sparked a new custody agreement into the new year.
A Tuesday letter from Turner’s lawyers revealed that they and Jonas’ attorneys have been “engaged in productive mediation from October 4-7, 2023.”
The talks were so productive, the lawyers said, that the parties are prepared to reach “an amicable resolution.”
“Due to the progress made at mediation, the parties believe that an amicable resolution on all issues between them is forthcoming. For that reason, the parties jointly request that the Court enter the proposed order staying this proceeding and vacating all deadlines and trial dates submitted herewith,” the letter said. “Counsel for both parties are available for a conference concerning the status of the proceeding, the mediation, or the proposed order enclosed herewith at the Court’s convenience should Your Honor believe it productive and appropriate.”
The attached proposed order for U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla to sign called for the case to be put on hold and to vacate previously scheduled deadlines:
This Consent Order is made pursuant to of the 1980 Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the “Hague Convention”) and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (“ICARA”), 22 U.S.C. § 9001 et seq., and with the express consent and agreement of both parties, as evidenced by the signatures of their respective counsel. It is therefore this ____ day of ___________________, 2023, by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, hereby:
1. ORDERED, that all proceedings and deadlines in this action shall be stayed pending further order of this Court; and it is further
2. ORDERED, that all previously scheduled trial dates and court appearances in this action are hereby vacated.
The lawyers also filed a proposed second interim consent order which outlined the results of the aforementioned “productive mediation.”
The proposed arrangement “makes no determination on the merits of the Petition, or on either party’s respective claims and defenses, and is entered without prejudice to either party’s position” — meaning those claims/defenses may be raised again in the future.
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Under the agreement, the children would be allowed to stay with Turner from Oct. 9 through Oct. 21 and permitted to “temporarily travel” to the United Kingdom or anywhere in the United States.
From Oct. 21 through Nov. 2, the children would be with Jonas and would likewise be allowed to travel within the U.S. or to the United Kingdom.
The agreement says the parents would alternate custody of their daughters between the weeks of Nov. 2 to Nov. 22 (Turner), Nov. 22 to Dec. 16 (Jonas), and Dec. 16 to Jan. 7, 2024 (Turner).
In each instance, a nanny would bring Turner and Jonas’ daughters to New York City for a custody exchange.
At the start of the case, Turner filed suit against her estranged husband Joe Jonas seeking to have their daughters returned to England, alleging that the Jonas Brothers star had “wrongfully retained” the children and gone against already established mutual plans that the former couple had to make the English countryside their “forever home.”
Jonas, for his part, responded to news of the lawsuit through a representative, who said that the Jonas Brothers star would be in violation of Florida divorce court order were he to comply with Turner’s demands to relocate their daughters to England.
“This is an unfortunate legal disagreement about a marriage that is sadly ending. When language like ‘abduction’ is used, it is misleading at best, and a serious abuse of the legal system at worst,” the prior statement said. “The children were not abducted.”
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