Last week, the actress submitted a request to take her children to England. Since the couple made the UK their home in April this year, they initially requested that their daughter “come back soon”.

A fierce battle for custody of Willa, 3, and their 1-year-old daughter ended in a temporary truce with a new agreement. From court documents, obtained by Entertainment Tonightapparently neither side is allowed to take the children out of New York.

After Sophie’s request, Joe immediately responded through his lawyer. For example, two weeks after filing for divorce, he had a conversation with Sophie about working out a ‘friendly co-parenting plan’. “And less than 24 hours later, Sophie said she wanted to take the children back to the UK permanently,” said Joe’s lawyer.

He then asked Joe to hand over the children’s passports so he could collect them immediately. “The use of the word ‘kidnapping’ is at best misleading and at worst a serious violation of the justice system. The children were not kidnapped.”

“Joe wants to co-parent his children so that they are raised by their mother and father, and of course he has also agreed to raise the children in the US and UK,” the statement continued. “The children were born in the US and have spent most of their lives in the US. They are US citizens.”

Joe and Sophie have been in a relationship since 2016 and married in 2019.