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House of Jonas vs. House of Turner

House of Jonas vs. House of Turner

A Famous Couple’s Temporary Custody Agreement

By O’Cathain Law Group

Go ahead, fire up Spotify, and listen to ‘Leave Before You Leave Me,’ ‘Waffle House’ and ‘What A Man Gotta Do’— these are all bangers from the group Jonas Brothers, and Joe Jonas is the middle child of the band, alongside his brothers— and bandmates— Nick and Kevin.

Or open the Max app on your phone and catch a few vintage episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones, and you’ll see the British actress Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, of the House of Stark, in the wildly successful fantasy series (complete with dragons).

Maybe you know who Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are, maybe you kind of do… but you know they made news recently when the divorcing couple agreed to a temporary custody agreement for their two children after mediation (here’s ABC News).

It’s not every day that a famous couple’s temporary custody arrangement makes the news, so let’s break down what we know and how it might apply to us regular folks:

  • The ‘productive’ mediation lasted four (4) days. Mediation can be a useful tool for co-parents wishing to avoid the courtroom for every single matter. Learn about mediation and arbitration.
  • This temporary custody arrangement concerns the timelines from October 2023 to January 2024. So, while useful to the co-parents, the temporary nature of this custody arrangement suggests there may be long-term custody issues that have yet to be resolved and might still put the parties in court. Learn about child custody. Though, of course, the couple stated through their lawyers, “… parties believe that an amicable resolution on all issues between them is forthcoming.” It’s the goal of most every co-parent, celebrity or not, to work out a custody arrangement that is mutually agreeable to both parties.
  • This new filing, the interim arrangement, vacates the first interim consent order, which was a temporary agreement to keep both kids in New York City. This new temporary custody arrangement states that the children may travel, with either parent, to the United Kingdom or any of the 50 United States. Therefore, it seems like the parties engaged in mediation to give a lot more leeway to both co-parents— and their children.
  • At one point during the process, Jonas’s representative told CNN, “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 US and the UK.” Prior to the new agreement it seems as though both parties were publicly and messily not on the same page, and it’s interesting to see that celebrity co-parenting squabbles are sometimes the same as ours (relocation of children issues), though they may play out on the front page. Learn more about the relocation of children.
  • Additionally, “… the parties shall jointly submit a status report letter to this Court on or before Dec. 23, 2023, which shall address the status of mediation and of these proceedings.” Perhaps Jonas and Turner— along with their children— will find this temporary custody arrangement satisfactory and want to make it permanent; perhaps they will wind up in court to resolve their differences. Like so much of divorce and co-parenting, only time will tell.