Ela Dvornik Wins Back Custody of Her Daughters

Ela Dvornik has won a court ruling that sends her daughters to live with her in Zagreb, her mother Danijela Dvornik revealed on Instagram on September 19. The ruling came four years after Ela’s divorce, a period during which the girls lived with their father under a temporary court order.

Until now, Ela and her ex husband, Charles Pierce, who is 13 years her senior, had formally shared custody. As a temporary measure, though, the judge had ordered the girls to stay in the family home in Istria with their father, while Ela spent that time renting an apartment in Novi Zagreb. Ela and Charles ended their marriage in 2022, and the influencer has since spoken openly about her life after the divorce.

Grandmother Danijela was the first to share news of the new ruling, without showing the document itself.

Anyway, without posting the official document, Ella has finally gotten a court ruling that the kids go to their mom in Zagreb. And now it’s final. The kids are happy with that decision and so are we, of course. It all took way too long, it took nerves, patience and time to get to this outcome, Danijela Dvornik wrote in her Instagram post.

According to her, the process was neither quick nor easy. Four years passed between the divorce and the final ruling on where the girls would live, and Danijela says the whole family is satisfied with the outcome.

What happened between the divorce and now?

The short answer: Ela’s fight over where her daughters would live lasted nearly four years. She and Charles Pierce divorced in 2022, and a temporary custody order followed soon after. The girls stayed in the family home in Istria with their father, while Ela looked for permanent housing in Zagreb. While that temporary measure was still in effect, Ela explained on Instagram why her daughters weren’t living with her at the time.

Good question, straight to the point. They don’t live with me. We share custody (for now). But the judge ordered the girls to live with their dad in our family home in Istria as a temporary measure. I’m renting an apartment in Novi Zagreb, Ela Dvornik wrote at the time.

That post came while the influencer was searching for a permanent home, since the girls needed a stable place to live and she was, in the meantime, staying in a rented apartment. Now, four years later, the situation has been resolved in her favor, and the girls are moving in with her in Zagreb.

Neither Ela nor Danijela has spoken publicly about the details of the court proceedings. Neither has published the ruling itself, nor the reasoning the judge relied on in reaching the decision. What is known is that the process lasted four years in total, from the 2022 divorce to the ruling announced on September 19, 2026, and that the girls are now, according to grandmother Danijela, happy with the outcome.

Neither post, Ela’s nor Danijela’s, mentioned whether Ela’s ex husband Charles Pierce has reacted to the new ruling in any way. So far, only the mother’s side of the family has spoken publicly, and only through Instagram, without a supporting document confirming the exact content of the ruling.

Ela Dvornik has not personally commented on the latest court ruling. Her mother shared the news herself, on her own Instagram account, while Ela has regularly shared details from her private life over the past several years, including the period when she was renting an apartment while waiting for the custody question to be resolved in her favor. The daughters’ move to their mother in Zagreb now closes a chapter that, according to the family, took too long and demanded a great deal of patience.