It’s been 6 years since Brangelina filed for divorce, and although they finally achieved a bifurcated divorce, they are still dividing and fighting over assets and custody and parent time for their 6 kids. Join me and fellow divorce attorney, Corttany Brooks, as we discuss the messy, expensive, and ongoing drama and speculation over this Hollywood ex-couple. 

Show notes:

I have Corttany Brooks back on the show for this celebrity episode to discuss the ongoing drama of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Corttany, again, is a Utah family law attorney that works with me at Coillaw, but she actually grew up in Indiana. She moved to Utah last year and joined my firm, but was a prosecutor specializing in special victim cases and domestic violence in Indianapolis. She brings this empathy to the family law firm, and quickly picked up Utah law. She got her bachelors in journalism from Ohio University and her JD from Maurer School of Law at Indiana University, so she’s licensed now in Utah and Indiana.

Divorce was filed September 2016 and it’s still not done. Brad and Angelina got together around 2005 (while filming Mr. and Mrs. Smith) while he was still with Jennifer Aniston. They have 6 kids together (2 bio kids and 4 adopted kids). Brad adopted the kids Angelina had when they got married. They were together for about 10 years before they even got married. Angelina filed for the divorce and cited irreconcilable differences. We rarely use fault as a consideration in divorce. Angelina mentioned they were doing it for the health of the family. There were a lot of disagreements over co-parenting. There were apparently allegations of child abuse against Brad. It was under FBI jurisdiction because the one incident that allegedly happened happened while on their plane. The allegation led to Angelina having the upper hand with custody. Unfortunately, even if the allegations later come out to be false, there’s no reparations legally for the missed out time for the parent accused. 

She also accused him of drunkenness and smoking weed. We always advise our clients who are accused of things like this to just submit to drug tests so you can prove your innocence. For the temporary custody agreement, Angelina had full custody with Brad just having supervised visitation. A month after the divorce, the FBI said they had never opened an investigation because there was no case. Angelina did uphold the agreements. On Nov. 4, 2016, we find out that Brad is seeking joint custody. (Angelina was seeking sole custody.) Brad gets cleared of all the charges by both FBI and child services. In 2017, they decided to put their divorce on hold. In 2018, she started accusing him of not paying child support. Brad adamantly refuted it. They eventually got a bifurcated divorced (which is super rare). So they are legally divorced in April of 2019, with property and custody to be settled at a future later time. There are no more hearings until January 2021. The judge ruled that there would be shared custody and parent time. Brad was elated and Angelina was upset and tried to disqualify the judge, which she did succeed on. Brad appealed that. They were still fighting over the chateau property until last year.