The breakup of businessman Nick Loeb and actress Sofia Vergara has taken an uglier turn.

A lawsuit refiled on April 1 by Loeb and acquired by The Insider With Yahoo shows a messy disagreement over the future of two frozen embryos.

The formerly engaged couple chose to cryopreserve several embryos in November 2013. In vitro fertilisation with a surrogate was unsuccessful on two occasions, and they had two embryos remaining when they split at the end of May 2014.

According to Loeb, Vegara wants the remaining embryos destroyed, and he wants to preserve them. In court documents, the pair are identified only as John and Jane Doe.

"John seeks to save from destruction two cryopreserved Female Embryos created using John's sperm and Jane's ova for the purposes of attempting to have children," the suit read.

"However, before the Female Embryos could be implanted in a surrogate, the Parties ended their relationship... [John Doe] seeks to ensure that the Female Embryos are not destroyed, but Jane Doe refuses to agree to their preservation under all circumstances."

Loeb, 39, is also suing the fertility clinic where they underwent IVF, because they did not account for what should happen to the embryos if the couple split.

The Loeb's Foods founder has not discussed the case publicly, but a source reported that he is distraught over the idea of losing the embryos.

"Nick is very emotionally invested in these female embryos because he's pro-life and believes life begins at conception," the source told InTouch. "Nick has always wanted to be a father and will do whatever it takes to save these two remaining female embryos."

The 42-year-old actress has not released a comment regarding the lawsuit, and is planning a wedding with a new fiancé, actor Joe Manganiello.