I got an explanation for my queries about that TMZ story we discussed yesterday. TMZ reported that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt would be going through a custody trial next month to determine the state of custody for their five youngest children. TMZ also claimed that Angelina and Brad had retained a private judge to oversee everything until June 2019. I know the custody dispute is bitter, but would the trial really go on for six months? No, as it turns out. After TMZ got their leak, People Magazine got a different leak about the state of the Brangelina Divorce Saga.
Exes Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are working toward settling custody of their six children. The pair asked to extend the current temporary judge on their case — Judge John Ouderkirk — until June 30, 2019, according to legal documents obtained by PEOPLE.
While the documents say a “trial on the bifurcated issue of custody is to begin on December 4,” multiple sources tell PEOPLE both sides are working toward an out-of-court settlement to arrange custody of their children without going to trial. The listed court date is seen as a target date for which they could reach an agreement on custody, sources say.
A source tells PEOPLE, “both parties continue to work together toward a settlement.”
“Angelina isn’t seeking full custody,” the insider adds.
This is the first time I’ve heard that A) Angelina isn’t seeking full custody and B) they’re working on a settlement with an actual deadline that is coming up soon. Now, do you think they’ll actually be able to get a settlement they can both agree on before December 4th? I seriously doubt it. Just as I doubt that Angelina has completely abandoned her desire for full custody. If she has moved away from that position, she didn’t do it with nothing in return. I wonder what Brad had to promise to give up or back down from if Angelina is truly no longer seeking full custody?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN and Avalon Red.
It may be that her new attorney swayed her decision making. A good lawyer will let you know what’s possible and what isn’t, so maybe that is why she is softening.
That’s what I’m thinking, she was probably told sole custody isn’t going to happen.
I agree. Unless the spouse is an ax murderer on death row, it’s always going to be joint custody. The difference is visitation time with each parent.
Reality check He knows the children testimony could damage him and that is why he wants to work a settlement before it gets to court.
He wants know to say they are now working together.
It might always have been joint custody. Someone has been busy whispering bullsheet to a certain 3-initial website which then gets repeated as truth.
A good friend just went through her own 3 year divorce in CA (non-celebrities, not extremely wealthy) and she now has sole physical custody of their older child and 80/20 for their younger, older is 16, younger is 11. No violence no abuse just a messy affair and complicated relationships. So please stop saying courts always go 50/50. They don’t.
@Ali And the other parent was fighting for 50/50 custody? Or they were okay with that arrangement?
I’m surprised if they fought for three years for 50/50 and the judge ruled against them without there being abuse or neglect, but I’m no expert and have never been through it myself.
I had a divorce in southern cali. He was fighting for 100% custody, because his parents are rich and he could. I wanted 50-50
I got a pro bono lawyer.
it took almost 3 years to get the divorce, property and custody settled.
I got offered 80-20 by the judge and the court social worker person. I asked for 50-50 because that was best for my son. then til he was 18 we had a 4 day 3 day and a 5 day 2 day week split. we live 5 minutes from each other.
But the fact is he fought for ALL and i got offered 80-20
So 50-50 is not a sure thing in california.
My sister is currently going through this. She is getting sole custody with him getting some visitation. She first filed 2 years ago and it will be another 6 months probably before its totally done(property/divorce part of it). so 50-50 is not a given
CairinaCat – What blows my mind is the judges in those situation. Unless there’s abuse or neglect, there’s literally no reason to justify anything less than 50/50 if the other parent wants it. It should send up every red flag that exists if the other person is fighting so hard otherwise.
@Cairina It kind of sounds like the judge was maybe punishing your ex for trying to get 100% custody. Maybe they felt like he was being spiteful and you weren’t, so the child was better off with you? Either way, it sounds like you handled it maturely and gracefully.
I think it’ll be joint custody but she will retain the majority of their time; like they’ll live with her mostly, or there will be an extension on the monitoring during Brads visits.
From Day One in the original divorce filing to the current filings concerning the Dec 4 trial, the facts have not changed. In black and white. Jolie is asking for sole physical custody and joint legal custody. Brad is asking for 50/50 joint physical custody and joint legal custody. I don’t care who “says” what, the court documents don’t lie.
@LadyT: Yes, exactly this. Technically, I suppose that 100% physical custody and joint legal custody doesn’t qualify as “sole” custody.
The reality is that if she had agreed to the 50/50 joint custody he’s asking for, there would be no need for a trial date at all. It seems to me that neither of them have changed their positions.
Brad is already attacking her on the blast website. He desperately doesn’t want to go to trial, because he doesn’t want anyone to know what he did. Saying she’s hurting the kids, making everything public, yet fails to see his own payroll of public media attacks.
He truly is a piece of sh*t isn’t he?
He destroyed the family and continue to do damage to them and yet he acts sanctimonious.
He probably thought Angelina would take everything he threw at her and roll over.
Angelina loves and protects her children unlike him.
The trial will expose him so that is why he is running scared.
True Maya.
Not once has Angelina asked for full custody, she asked for full physical custody but joint overall custody.
1 parent gets full physical custody in all these kinds of situations.
TMZ and Brad are still trying to destroy Angelina by these lies. By claiming that Angelina wants full custody, and then she gets awarded physical custody but not full custody, Brad’s team will claim victory.
Brad is following Trump’s playbook and it is disgusting to see.
It’s clear that all 6 children are close to Angelina especially the older boys.
Samantha has been fighting for Angelina & the children and soon they will get a closure.
Asking for sole physical custody *IS* asking for sole custody.
No it is not, 1 parent almost always has the physical custody while the rest can be joint.
I looked this up yesterday sole physical custody is one thing, sole legal custody – so they can make decisions about the children’s future together is something else. So no physical custody is not sole custody.
That’s not true, you can have joint physical custody.
What Angelina has asked for in the past has been sole PHYSICAL custody, meaning she would keep the children and he would get some kind of visitation, and joint LEGAL custody, meaning he could participate in legal situations, medical decision-making, choice of schools. So yeah, she *did* request sole physical custody, and no, that’s not the norm anymore. Courts have been trending towards 50/50 physical custody.
@Dietcoke: thanks for clarifying but I have one question. If it is 50/50 physical custody then how does that work?
Do the children then spend 1 week one place then next week at the other place?
That really doesn’t seem to be right for those children as they won’t have a proper structure in place.
How would 50/50 physical custody work in this case though as Pitt is being supervised during child access? Is that still ongoing or has it finished now?
Some families with 50/50 custody trade kids off, a week here and week there. For some families, the kids stay put and the parents rotate in and out of the house weekly, and for yet others, sometimes one parent has the children for the school week and the other parent has greater access on weekends, holidays, and school vacations. There is no method to ensure time is split 100% evenly between the parents, but the goal is to ensure each gets fairly equal time with the kids.
@zapp
Obviously I’m not involved in their custody dispute, but based on court filings, the monitored visitation was an extension of the agreement Brad and Angie made way, way back. That requirement could be terminated completely, be phased out, or could continue with Brad getting limited (but increased) access to the kids.
In CA it’s known as Parent time. Many times there will be a parent with Primary custody (home base) and then the other has Parent Time. It is also very common for 50/50 time. Especially in cases like this when they literally live one mile apart. It seems like some here feel like this is a contest and one parent will “win”. Sad.
While California is a 50/ 50 state and there’s no reason to assume that will change in this case, 3 of the 6 kids are old enough to decide which parent they want to live with. I think the age in CA is 14 (?)- I’m not sure if that’s more a guideline or a set thing and how much weight is given to said 14 year old or older having an opinion? Feel free to correct me please. We know Maddox will likely be excluded from any custody agreement at 17, but Pax turns 15 this month and Zahara turns 14 in two months, that’s old enough to have very firm opinions on who they want to live with if the court should ask.
So I’m wondering how that will factor into any final custody agreement, plus the fact that 3 of the kids are too young to get a say. As well as the fact that Angelina is their primary caregiver and they’ve been in her custody almost exclusively for more than 2 years now.
If we believe the reports of Pitt having custody for 4 and 12 hours every other day on school and non school days respectively since their August return to L.A., that amounts to 24 hours out of 168, that’s 1 in 7 and 4 days a month. Those aren’t good numbers and one has to ask why a man with his resources and legal team only has custody 4 days a month? if we believe the reports that is.
There was a time when my 16 year old was mad at her father, and didn’t want to spend time with him. I was admonished by the magistrate in LA Superior Court (same court as Jolie-Pitts) that it was my responsibility to have her visit her father. They did not give her a choice, not to say that never happens, because I have heard of that. The reality is that she then switched to being angry at me. (eye roll) Now that my kids are adults, one lives a block from me and they other lives with me at age 20 currently. Their dad wants more time with them. He wants them to visit him, they are rarely into it. At one time I was in treatment for alcoholism and I had visitation for a year. They did not live in my home. They have both lived with me primarily from the ages of 12 and 16. They lived with both of us from birth to 10 and 14 years. It’s best to stay as close as possible to both parents. In this case, they live very close by so hopefully they’ll work it out. Alcoholics can be fabulous parents as long as they stay in recovery. My ex does not have any substance issues, but he has other problems. Nobody is a perfect parent.
@Maya: joint physical custody doesnt affect the kids if it is done properly. My American host family had that. I drove the boys twice a week to stay with their mom. Every other week they would spend with her. Holidays and vacations were shared as well. Thanksgiving lunch with dad, Thanksgiving dinner with mom (vice-versa). Same for Christmas etc.
They grew up to become amazing men raised by two loving parents in two homes.
we have joint physical and legal custody with my stepson’s mom – he does a week on, week off schedule, and any major decisions regarding school or activities, etc are decided between her and my husband. there is a section that designates whose address will be used as his legal address, for school purposes – it was hers, but is now ours because she moved out of town and he didn’t want to switch schools.
Contrary to it being repeated ad nauseum, Brad is not unsafe with his children and does not and has not for some time had supervised visitation with his children. WE do not know every detail but the judge, therapists and a whole slew of other professionals DO. In June the judge mandated increased visitation for Brad and for a short while this included therapeutic support for the children to promote reunification. It was NOT to supervise Brad. The judge made it clear. The implication was this was necessary because Jolie had hindered the relationship. This is not opinion, it is a Court document written by the judge in the case from June 2018.
This is from september, leaked by his team https://www.celebitchy.com/592832/brad_pitt_sees_the_kids_every_other_day_hes_still_being_monitored_by_dcfs/
LadyT she has every right do ask for sole physical custody. She has been the primary caregiver their entire lives. According to Brad he would sometimes realise how much she’s doing and would decide to get his ass of the couch and “help” her. That fact alone should tell you enough about his parenting method. He was never interesting in hard work.
The claim she’s not asking for sole custody is not incorrect, she asked for joint legal and visitation for him.
Crocgirl- You’re actually debating the accuracy of the information from a court order/document written by the case judge by linking an USWeekly article?
I wasn’t debating a court order. I was giving you a link to article his team leaked. It was never confirmed in any order that his vistits are not monitored.
I never claimed Angelina is perfect but she’s definitely far more superior parent than him.
That is how I remember it, as well. Angelina asked for split legal custody and *temporary* full physical custody. Her end goal was always shared legal and physical custody and healing of the family. So I don’t know why everyone is surprised?
She certainly “said” joint custody was the goal. Numerous times. At 6 months. At a year. Has it happened? Legally, per court documents, her goal has never changed. Sole physical custody and joint legal custody.
If I am Angie, especially after the parenting alienation fiasco, I’d fight for sole custody all the way. Would not budge an inch. Don’t care that he’s “Brad ‘Fuc**ng’ Pitt”. He and his doofus PR team have shown no courtesy whatsoever in regard to Angie being the mother of his children. Litigation all the way!
Marriage: 2 years and 1 month (before filing for divorce).
Divorce: 2 years and 2 months… and counting.
Considering how long they waited to get married, I’m surprised they didn’t have a prenup that would sort this out. (A la Cruise and Holmes – their divorce took a week).
I guess you never know.
If you are with someone never let you guard down.
Cruise & Holmes was a complete different story.
Holmes had something really bad on Cruise & Scientology that he immediately signed over custody.
Also Cruise had the religious element.. if you leave the church you’re out, so it could never be 50/50. Katie had leverage and got her daughter and ran.
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise is a totally different situation. She had a pre-nup, sure, but in the end she managed a much higher payout and sole custody of Suri in about a week because 1. Her father is an attorney and he executed her escape beautifully and 2. Because Katie could ruin Tom with what she knew about his involvement in Scientology. Money, fame, influence—all gone. Tom traded millions and his kid for his reputation.
Papa Holmes needs to write a book on how he accomplished and executed his plan. He ensured his daughter would walk away unscathed and his grandchild would grow up away from those nutjobs.
Ok, maybe Cruise-Holmes was a bad example. But I’m still surprised they (Pitt and Jolie) don’t have (?) a prenup in which “basic” financial matters are hashed out. (It’s not mentioned in this story, but there was another one just a couple of days ago). They were together for many years before they married, so it’s not like they rushed into it.
It is absolutely insane that they didn’t have a prenup. They both have so much money, property, investments, etc, 6 kids, he had 1 divorce already and she had 2, and they didn’t take any steps to prepare should they split?!? Completely insane.
I can understand custody being a separate thing, but the financial stuff should have been worked out before they ever got married.
Proud of Angelina you have with stood every attack possible by some of the public and especially by the drive by tabloid media for the love of your children. You are one strong woman.
Angelina one day soon the Truth will come out about him and they will see you were right for leaving him and protecting your children.
So damn true
Her priority are the children’s safety & to be well look after, She’s always intended to share with him on condition that the children are safe with him. Maybe she now feels that she can trust him to be with the children or maybe there are conditions attached. The sooner their divorce is sorted the healthier for all of them to recover from this ordeal & move on to the next chapter of their lives.
Pitt still telling different story to the blast. He should know her ex by now if she is attacked she will respond so Pitt better warn his PR machines! He is nearly 55 years old but quite immature & can be quite nasty.
Can’t the kids decide which parent they want to live with?i mean sure they’re “underage”(not Maddox),But wouldn’t it just be easier for the kids to be asked,& the other parent get visitation?
I think that is what Brad is petrified of that those children will chose their mother and not him.
Hence the smear campaign and delaying tactics from his side.
For all intents and purposes, the two oldest boys have already chosen her. I’m still wondering about Z as she was very much her Daddy’s girl when she was little.
I think they will end up splitting the difference. Brad knows he’s lost Pax and Maddox. I think he will let Angie have sole custody of those two and ask for joint custody of the younger children.
Okay, I looked it up. In California the age at which children can decide is 14. Pax and Maddox therefore can make their own decision. Possibly also Z, as she will be 14 early in January.
Pitt lost it . He lost the grownth of his kids. This precious time will never come back.
I’m just here to make a completely superficial comment about AJ. I guess it’s the way her head is turned and how her hair fell, but in the bottom photo it looks like she has a kind of bob cut (just a little on the longer side) and it looks really good. She’s beautiful no matter what, but a lob-type haircut would look so fantastic on her. As far as the divorce/custody proceedings…may there finally be light at the end of the tunnel.
I noticed that too, gorgeous. She would look great in a lob.
agree!!
She has never asked for sole custody. she has from the beginning been asking for physical custody and joint legal custody meaning the kids would ‘live’ with her and visit Brad. And I think their issue is some of the kids don’t want to live with him but because he won’t let the kids have minors counsel they don’t really have a say.
He might not let the kids have minor counsel, but I’d bet my bottom dollar that she did.
It makes the hiring of Bley Dejean interesting. Bley is an expert in the best interest of children apparently, so perhaps a way to get around the minors counsel issue Pitt vetoed? Angelina is no dummy, she knows her way around children’s advocacy due to her work, she co founded KIND which advocates for unaccompanied minors & provides legal representation. I find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t have consulted lawyers there & or general advice on how to proceed, yes different areas of law but children’s rights still.
The minors had a counsel early on january 2017 . The doc was sealed . But the up document was visible and was about minors counsels filed by petitionner.
Tmz got their story from the S&O to extend the appointment of the private judge filed on October 31. There was a hearing on the 8th and 9th of October (Dr Katz filed his declaration with the court on the 12th of October- seeing as he was hired in January of 2017 so has had lots of time on the case, it’s possible his custody evaluation is complete?) I’m guessing one of the decisions made there by both was to agree to extend the appointment of the private judge by another 6 months. Pitts lawyer filed the S&O on the 31st of October, it was stamped by the court clerk on Monday the 5th- that’s when tmz, radar etc got their hands on the S&O. It wasn’t sealed, so everything tmz reported they got from that unsealed S&O regarding the dates, the extension of the private judge etc and just added their own nasty spin where Angelina is the bad guy as usual.
There was also a new order (after the October hearings) filed on the 2nd of November. This is sealed, so unless someone leaks it like the last order we won’t know what it says. So the order filed on the 2nd is the current order in place I assume. Seeing as we don’t know what it says, it’s kinda futile to speculate as it likely supersedes anything that came before it & what some of us think we know.
Good points Alex. Angelina is the co-founder of KIND.
I wonder if Brad understands how damaging he is to his children? The court can make the kids spend time with him, but it can’t make them want to spend time with him.
All of his children must have access to the internet and to what is written about their mother.
I doubt it. He already did a lot of damage with his substance abuse and whatever else came of that, but that he’s fought her every step of the way and done all the public bashing of her, strongly suggests he doesn’t think about anyone but himself.
Brad does not want to be exposed in court. He really did something extremely hurtful to his children that he does not want out in public.
The Blast article is crazy and definitely from Brads camp! He’s emotionally manipulating Angelina with:
“Pitt’s ongoing plea to Jolie has been, “Don’t do this to the kids.”
I hope she takes his butt to court!
Sage you are correct he is trying to manipulate her. Angelina needs to go to court and settle it once and for all.
Yep, their children know exactly what happened and exactly why they had to be in therapy for years. He’s claiming oh now they can read all the stuff said – hello! If he’s so concerned about what his kids are reading 1. He wouldn’t have leaked so much damaging information . Team AJ called him deplorable for leaking. 2. He would stop attacking their mother in the press. He thinks he can get away with it because his name is not attached and it’s all sources but it’s obvious by now. He’s a loser father and he couldn’t care less about his children’s feelings. His therapy didn’t help.
I think Pitt is trying to delay the inevitable and and will settle out of court at the last possible moment. He admitted in the GQ interview much of the split was self inflicted and that he was distant, so he couldn’t have been a good father. The last couple of years have given him a chance to prove himself but whether it made a difference remains to be seen. Nothing has emerged in all this time to indicate Jolie SHOULDN’T be the primary caregiver so hopefully what ever the sticking points are,hopefully this gets resolved ASAP.
Angelina said from the beginning that she didn’t want full costudy but she wanted Brad and the children to be healthy. His team are the ones that are dragging the she wants full and he wants 50/50 lie out. It was also revealed that it was never up to Angelina but it was up to the therapists and judge and now the evaluator did his thing. Brad Pitt does not want to go to trial and is desperately trying to create a different image for himself than that of the truth. He’s an abuser who was put through more hoops than a poor person who gets cps called on him.
I’d say she needs to forget about pitt at this point. He keeps trying to hurt her and has played a role in her health issues. She needs to stop trying to tip toe around him and trying to make him a good father for her kids. Cause he never will be.
Angelina has bent over backwards for him and all he does is whine. He is a Spoil Brat.
Yup, Pitt and his legal team do.not.want. to go to trial cause they don’t have a leg to stand on with the abuse being done to his kids on the plane back in 2016. The abuse docs being recorded/logged with many therapists/doctors from back then and even now so there is no way for him to deny it. It’s his preemptive way, as always, to attack Angelina by putting b.s out there in the media before they fold in the judge’s chamber. LOL. Dude is a pathetic lose who always cares about his image. It’s a shame that his family and the public now know about it.
Angelina always has her priority straight that being her children. She is not going to waver so if he wants to play it out, be it. Hopefully some young thing will come along soon so his focus will shift and then he will need to wrap this custody up early, lol. . Just like Jennifer Garner’s new boyfriend with his former spouse.
Again, she has ALWAYS wanted physical custody not sole custody. Come on guys get that right at least.
Angelina has requested physical custody only.
I don’t comment on this mess but I just wanted to say how absolutely gorgeous she looks in that last photo. Wow. Such a stunning woman.
Angelina request physical custody but if turns out the judge awards sole custody I will be more than happy for her and the children.
I heard the court date was about the property settlement. And also that the current Judge would continue giving them both schedules to follow re visitation with the children so that Angelina continues to share the kids with Brad. I never heard anything about Angelina wanting to give up her full custody claim.
Shes not requesting it, because she doesn’t have to. I guarantee the evaluators did not recommend visitation much less custody for him……that was in aug. I doubt any kids are or have been visiting Brad….seems no one wants to see him…..he just doesn’t want to “lose custody” in print to save his image.
If they agree out of court that the kids don’t have to see him if they don’t want…………then the kids keep living like they have been w mom……….no contact w dad……….but he doesn’t have to go through the public embarrassment of “Brad Pitt lost custody”.
It’s a win win. Brad saves face……….kids don’t have to be near him. The public is none the wiser because no formal paperwork or ruling was announced.
Also This is prob final financial stuff……I think the kid thing was a done deal in aug.
“Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding.”
@ LadyT
“Opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one but they think each others stink.”
Lol you’re a trip
Angelina really is such a beautiful woman. She looks amazing in the photo with the bob.
As always I hope that things will turn for the best for them and that things are resolved peacefully.
If you notice that in recent b.s stories from Pitt’s go-to outlets, i.e Page Sis and the Blast, instead of saying a Pitt source, it’s now a source close to the situation that’s giving them the latest scoop. Pitt is trying to distance himself by not being too obvious so folks won’t point fingers at him saying he’s smearing the mother of his children. He’s delusional. People who have been following their on-going divorce know who put out these b.s. Dude is pathetic and really living in his own bubble surrounding himself yes, sir people who will tell him what he wants to hear if he keeps giving away his money to them.
And yeah he’s putting out there that he’s trying his best to protect the children and their welfare by not fighting or taking her to court blah blah but those involved know better-his family, the doctors, and the court. He’s just bluffing and posturing for nothing.
Damaging for the kids or for him? Image, image, for Pitt is a top priority.. shame on him, behave like a father of 6 kids!
Here is a man who had it all a beautiful wife and children threw it all away for hollyweird and a Fake Image.
🙁
There seems to be some confusion over custody proceedings. First, every judge is different as is every case. Second, there is no such thing as 50/50 splits. There is legal custody and there is physical custody. A parent is either granted sole or joint custody in either area and there are a variety of reasons a judge might grant one parent sole custody in either area. For instance, I have sole physical and legal custody because my child’s father lives overseas. However, even if one parent has sole physical custody, the other parent has visitation rights no matter what. Percentages like 50/50 refers to how much actual time is spent with each parent. Some parents rotate weeks, some parents only get kids on the weekend and holidays. It depends on where each parent lives, their work schedules, the ages of the children, etc. In a cases with suspected abusive situations, the abusive parent is given supervised visits. But they still get visits. This would also be the case if a parent has been abusing alcohol,or drugs in a child’s presence. It is very difficult to lose visitation rights and there must be evidence of abandonment or on going child abuse wherein the abuse must be witnessed by a third party and a child psychiatrist must put forth the opinion that visits are detrimental to the child.
In Angelina’s case, she has no reason to be granted sole legal custody nor does it appear that she is seeking this. She does have grounds for physical custody though. If she can prove that Brad has spent very little time in their home with their children due to film schedules and demonstrate that she has the children the majority of the time, then this would be the children’s norm. Also if brad is having to work on his sobriety, this is another reason she might be agiven sole physical custody. This might allow her to travel with the children or move them from California for periods of time, as she has been doing throughout their lives. But that’s Not a given. It was rumored that one of their martial problems is that brad wanted her to settle down with the kids and she prefers a more nomadic life. But if Brad isn’t in California either for most of the year, then she has a case. Again, it’s up to the judge’s discretion if they can’t agree, but child psychologists reports are often given a lot of weight.
If Jen Gardner has grounds for physical custody ( without DCFS recommandations) then Jolie is all the way entitled to have primary physical custody.
Question When someone bashes Angelina Jolie in print has she ever said a negative thing about them back. That says a lot about her Character. In the 21st we find it hard to believe someone truly has a good heart.
I agree. She doesn’t retaliate or even respond to the stuff Pitts team has done for two years. She just keep it moving. I find it strange that nlboth if her lawyers accuses him of deflecting from the truth. Something is not clearn in the water