Christina Block: Legal dispute over children escalates – coercion charges!

Christina Block: Legal dispute over children escalates – coercion charges!

Christina Block, heiress to the well-known Block House restaurant empire, is facing new challenges in an ongoing lawsuit. As part of the custody dispute against her ex-husband Stephan Hensel, she announced that she would file a complaint against him and his co-plaintiff Philip von der Meden. How rnd.de reports, Block is calling on the public prosecutor's office to open an investigation into coercion. Her claim: Von der Meden told her that she would only be able to see her children again if she changed her defense strategy.

Background to the litigation

The case is anything but simple. A Danish court recently granted Hensel sole custody of the two youngest children and banned Block from seeing them. This further fueled the situation between the two former spouses. Block's lawyer, Ingo Bott, says that his client reserves the right to file the complaint. This is happening in the middle of the ongoing negotiations, which is considered unusual by the presiding judge Isabel Hildebrandt and senior public prosecutor Mona Paul.

The judicial process, which began on July 11, 2025 in the Hamburg district court, casts a shadow over Block's role as a mother. She is accused of ordering the kidnapping of her children during the custody dispute, which she vehemently denies. Her partner Gerhard Delling is also charged with aiding and abetting.

The accusation of child abduction

The focus is on the dramatic kidnapping of the children on New Year's Eve 2023/2024 in Denmark. In this context, several media outlets reported an attack on the father and children, in which the children were forcibly taken into a vehicle. According to the allegations, the children were bound with duct tape and forced into a car. Loud rosepartner.de Block is guilty of aggravated abduction of minors and deprivation of liberty.

The legal battles extend across several countries and have already occupied the family courts in Germany and Denmark as well as the Federal Constitutional Court. Block's hopes for access rights have been severely shaken by a constitutional complaint that was rejected by the Federal Constitutional Court. Her children initially lived with her, but did not return after a visit in August 2021. This has led to a protracted custody conflict that has been tested across borders.

Conclusion

In a case that highlights the complexities of international child abduction, Christina Block remains in a legal quandary. The discussions about custody and the allegations of coercion could not only change her personal situation, but also cast a critical eye on the family. Next Thursday, two managers of the hotel and restaurant company will be heard as witnesses at the trial, and the courts' decisions will shed further light on this already tragic case.