Sophie Turner sues Joe Jonas in Manhattan federal court to return kids to U.K.

The divorce between Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas became a federal case Thursday.

Turner, 27, claims in court documents filed Thursday in the Southern District of New York that the couple’s kids have been wrongfully retained in New York City since Sept. 20 from England, which she described as “their habitual residence.”

The actress’ lawsuit was brought under the 1980 Hague Convention, which established civil proceedings for kids wrongly removed from their home country, as well as the U.S. International Child Abduction Remedies Act.

The suit was filed in Manhattan federal court as Turner’s kids are currently located in Manhattan; Jonas has a condo in Nolita.

The filing states that the pair made the United Kingdom their permanent home in April to have the children attend school in England. According to the lawsuit, the family moved into a long-term rental property in May and entered contracts to purchase a home in July and move there in December.

“As a result of their careers and the travel required for each of their careers, the parties had not, until April 2023, committed to setting down roots in any particular place. reads the suit. “They lived a very peripatetic lifestyle. They did not need to settle in one location right away and lived in various properties.”

The suit further establishes the couple once agreed the U.K. would be their family’s main residence. “All throughout their marriage, and particularly after their children were born, the parties often discussed their desire to raise their children in England and for their children to attend school in England. The parties regarded England as a safe location to raise their children.”

During a trip to Turner’s hometown of Warwickshire in 2020, the suit says the couple jointly decided “they would look for their ‘forever home’ in England, select a school for their older daughter in England, and settle their family in England.”

The family relocated to the U.K. in July after settling on a property in Oxford and putting their house in Miami for sale, Turner’s lawyers say.

The suit further claims the kids are now “fully involved and integrated in all aspects of daily and cultural life in England,” where they have received their medical and dental care and set up with dentists, doctors, and extracurricular activities.

Turner began filming a new TV series in her homeland last spring and planned for the children to travel with Jonas and a nanny during the Jonas Brothers tour in the United States in late July. The “Dark Phoenix” actress further intended to travel to New York City in mid-September and return to England with the kids, who were set up to stay with Jonas and his extended family.

Those plans were apparently upended when Jonas filed to end the marriage in Florida’s Miami-Dade County Court earlier this month. Seeking joint custody, he said “the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken” in his filing. The couple had a daughter, Willa, in 2020 and welcomed another daughter last year whose name has not been revealed. Both children have dual citizenship in the U.S. and the U.K., according to Turner’s suit.

On Sept. 6, the couple publicly announced their split.

In her petition, Turner said the couple had an argument Aug. 15 and, on Sept. 1, Jonas filed for divorce. She claimed to have learned about the divorce filing Sept. 5 through media reports.

Turner alleges Jonas is in possession of the children’s passports and has refused to hand them over and send them with Turner back to England. She filed the petition because her soon-to-be ex-husband’s actions are “a breach of the Mother’s rights of custody under English law, England being the children’s habitual residence.”

In a statement sent to The Daily News following Thursday’s filing, Jonas refuted Turner’s allegation that she learned of the filing in the media, adding that the Florida court has already entered an order that restricts both parents from relocating the children.

“Joe 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 UK. The children were born in the U.S. and have spent the vast majority of their lives in the U.S. They are American citizens,” his statement reads.

“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 children were not abducted. After being in Joe’s care for the past three months at the agreement of both parties, the children are currently with their mother. Sophie is making this claim only to move the divorce proceedings to the UK and to remove the children from the U.S. permanently.”

Representatives for Turner did not immediately respond to a Daily News request for comment.