Kelly Rutherford, the American actress who fought a long and costly battle for the custody of her two Monaco-based children, has paid $15,000 to regain rights to her residual income from the Gossip Girl series in which she starred. She declared bankruptcy in 2013 after paying out $1.5 million in legal fees in a tug-of-war with ex-husband German entrepreneur Daniel Giersch, a Monaco resident.

Her creditors have earned about $174,000 over the last three years. Rutherford, 47, has a nine-year old son, Hermes, and a younger daughter, Helena, with Giersch. The actress was still pregnant with Helena when she divorced her husband. The custody battle was particularly vicious and at one point Rutherford kept the two children in the US at the end of the summer after they were supposed to return to their father in the Principality.

A judge in Monaco granted Girsch custody of the children in a court hearing late last year and although Rutherford can visit the children in Monaco she is not allowed to take them to the US.