Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner left the first day of their mediations to resolve their ongoing divorce battle separately – two hours apart.
The Game of Thrones star, 27, has petitioned to take their two young daughters back to the UK, while the singer, 34, wants joint custody amid their public split.
While Sophie strode out of the mediation through the main entrance on foot at 6pm, her estranged husband stayed two hours later and then tried to sneak out undetected via a service driveway.
Joe Jonas sat in the back of a black SUV – which he had parked in a garage – and was quietly driven from the office space in Manhattan’s Financial District at 8pm.
Sophie also looked tired after the first of their four-day discussions – although she smiled as she arrived back to Taylor Swift‘s luxury apartment, where she’s staying with her daughters.
Sophie looked tired after the first of their four-day discussions. She smiled as she arrived back to Taylor Swift’s luxury apartment, where she’s staying with her daughters. Earlier on Wednesday, the British actress and 34-year-old Jonas arrived separately at the offices of Wilmer Hale to thrash out a divorce agreement
Turner had a smile on her face, despite hours spent in discussions today
Joe Jonas sat in the back of a black SUV and was driven from the office space in Manhattan’s Financial District. His car is pictured being put into a garage
Over the weekend, Sophie spent Sunday evening in Swift’s entourage as they watched Travis Kelce‘s Chiefs play the New York Jets at the MetLife stadium.
The actress, who has become close with the popstar ever since her divorce was made public last month, left the football game arm-in-arm with Swift.
Meanwhile, Joe is in the thick of his world tour for The Jonas Brothers.
Earlier on Wednesday, the British actress and 34-year-old Jonas arrived separately at the offices of Wilmer Hale to thrash out a divorce agreement.
Sophie donned a casual outfit of blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a green hooded jacket. She was accompanied by a woman who appeared to be part of her legal team.
In the morning, Sophie was seen leaving Swift’s apartment with the same woman.
Joe ended up staying in the building for around 10 hours on Wednesday.
A hearing held on Tuesday revealed the former couple will meet this week to resolve issues in their split, including custody of their daughters Delphine, one, and Willa, three.
Turner’s lawyer said they would go ‘full hog’ to resolve the matter during the process.
Sophie is seen inside the offices of Wilmer Hale in FiDi
A court was previously told that Jonas – pictured left arriving at the legal office on Wednesday – wants 50/50 custody
Joe Jonas’ black SUV is seen outside the offices on Wednesday. He drove out, whereas Sophie walked out on foot
Sophie Turner is spotted arriving back at Taylor Swift’s apartment in New York, where she is currently staying
A court was previously told that Jonas wants 50/50 custody and a judge set a January 2 date for a trial for deciding custody of the girls, with lawyers claiming there could be multiple witnesses for both sides.
Neither Jonas nor Turner were present but Turner joined the hearing via Zoom.
The hearing was the first at the court in New York, but the split also involves divorce cases in Miami and the UK.
Jonas filed for divorce in Miami on September 1 with sources close to him claiming that Turner had been out partying too much, leaving him alone to look after their daughters.
Turner fired back, accusing Jonas of refusing to hand over the girls’ passports so they could return to England with her.
She cited an international child abduction law as grounds for the children being with her.
Both sides have agreed that the girls will remain in New York until the matter is resolved.
Turner is staying at an apartment in the city owned by popstar Taylor Swift, who previously dated Jonas.
Before the hearing, Turner briefly appeared on a monitor in a room with a colorful painting in the background.
Sophie Turner departs the building on October 4, 2023
Jonas attempted to exit the building without being seen
Sophie and Joe’s divorce was made public last month – just four years after they tied the knot
She appeared to be in a good mood and said that it was ‘all good’ once the sound problems were resolved.
Her lawyer Stephen Cullen told the court that there was ‘some difficulty’ between the two parties with regards to scheduling a trial to decide custody of the girls.
Speaking in a thick Scottish accent, the Edinburgh-born lawyer said that Jonas could not make any dates in November, and December was problematic too.
Cullen said he wanted an ‘amicable resolution’ in the case in the quickest fashion.
He said that the trial, which would take place under Hague laws concerning child abduction, would last at most two-and-a-half days as it would cover a ‘very narrow’ range of issues such as where the children’s habitual residence was.
Cullen said that it was ‘essential’ that a trial took place this year because both sides were ‘very young litigants’ who had ‘extremely young children’.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla asked Cullen if he wanted a trial set given that mediation was taking place.
He said he wanted it to run ‘parallel’ to the mediation.
Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas faced off with their legal teams in Manhattan today to resolve their ongoing divorce battle
Joe and Sophie have two children together after getting married in 2019
Cullen said: ‘We are starting mediation tomorrow (Wednesday) and are going full hog to do everything we possibly can to resolve this matter’.
Cullen said that the interim order signed by the judge keeping the children in New York would be ‘addressed head-on’ during the mediation, raising the prospect Turner may return to England soon.
Cullen also told the court that Jonas was seeking 50/50 custody of the girls, a claim that he said would ‘evaporate’ many of Jonas’s defenses in the case.
Jonas’s lawyer Richard Min told the court that his client was on a world tour which was taking a break on December 9 and so could not be available for a trial before then.
He said that he could neither be ‘optimistic or pessimistic about mediation’.
Min said: ‘Four full days of mediation is a lot of time for these parties to sit in a room together and iron out their differences’.
Min said that contrary to what Cullen claimed there would be a ‘significant’ number of witnesses and that at the minimum a trial would take five days, possibly longer.
He said: ‘These are two individuals who have a lot of family, friends, social contacts and business relationships that factor into their decision making and their discussions’.
Min called the split a ‘breakdown of a family unit’ which he said would be ‘relevant to the issues’ arising in the case.
According to Min there would be ‘several key witnesses in this case’ and it was not just a matter of Turner and Jonas testifying.
Cullen said he wanted to ‘vehemently disagree with the need for a raft of depositions’.
He told the court that both sides had an ‘obligation to bring down the mercury’ and resolve the case in the quickest and least expensive way possible.
Judge Failla set the trial date for January 2 but said she had ‘high hopes for the mediation’.
Cullen told the court that the ‘parties are both seeing their children which is great’, describing the access from Jonas and Turner as ‘unfettered’.
Currently the daughters are with Turner, the court heard.
New photographs have unveiled the stunning UK mansion that was once envisioned to be the ‘forever home’ of Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner
Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner arrives at a legal office in Manhattan for several days of mediation talks over her divorce with Joe Jones
Sophie Turner and her attorney head to court in NYC.
Previous legal filings have detailed how the couple’s three year marriage rapidly broke up in August after Jonas reportedly saw Turner insulting him on their Ring camera.
He filed for divorce two weeks later claiming their relationship was ‘irretrievably broken’ and sources close to the singer tried to portray Turner as partying too hard and leaving him looking after their daughters.
But Turner responded with the lawsuit in New York under international child abduction laws.
In court papers she claimed that the couple sold their home in Miami in March and that they bought a $9million home near Oxford, England, which they meant as their ‘forever home’.
Turner went further in legal filings in Miami where she included a letter Jonas wrote to the seller of the property that showed him gushing about the prospect of living there.
The former couple paid a 10 percent deposit of $900,000 on the house on July 7, two months before they split up.
Jonas allegedly wrote to the seller: ‘When my wife and I decided we were going to spend more time in the UK and search for a permanent home, our daughter expressed three unwavering requirements: having chickens, a pony and a Wendy house.
‘While many of the houses we viewed met this criteria, the moment we turned the corner and caught sight of the charming blue shutters adorning (redacted) we experienced a sense of magic unlike anything we had felt before’.
The sale of the house is set to be finalized on December 2 but has reportedly not yet gone through, with the divorce potentially throwing a wrench in the deal.
