Breaking news: Angelina Jolie revealed the main reason for her divorce from Brad Pitt: outrageous , no one should experience such

On August 14, 2014, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married in a small ceremony in the chapel on the grounds of their French winery, Chateau Miraval. Just over two years later, on a private flight from Miraval back to Los Angeles, Pitt allegedly had a physical confrontation with Jolie in front of their six children, prompting her to file for divorce. Eight years later, that divorce is still not over.

Marriages between high-profile and ultrahigh-net-worth individuals can take time to unwind: There are usually shared businesses, multiple real-estate investments, and Swiss bank accounts to divvy up. But the Brangelina divorce has been a marathon even by these standards. Pitt and Jolie have gone back and forth about custody, real estate, and, of course, Chateau Miraval for years — often leaking their respective “wins” to the tabloids. What is the endgame? And why is it taking so long to get there?

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CELEBRITYBreaking news: Angelina Jolie revealed the main reason for her divorce from Brad Pitt: outrageous , no one should experience suchPublished 2 days ago on December 12, 2024By Keira Walters

On August 14, 2014, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married in a small ceremony in the chapel on the grounds of their French winery, Chateau Miraval. Just over two years later, on a private flight from Miraval back to Los Angeles, Pitt allegedly had a physical confrontation with Jolie in front of their six children, prompting her to file for divorce. Eight years later, that divorce is still not over.

Marriages between high-profile and ultrahigh-net-worth individuals can take time to unwind: There are usually shared businesses, multiple real-estate investments, and Swiss bank accounts to divvy up. But the Brangelina divorce has been a marathon even by these standards. Pitt and Jolie have gone back and forth about custody, real estate, and, of course, Chateau Miraval for years — often leaking their respective “wins” to the tabloids. What is the endgame? And why is it taking so long to get there?

The bifurcated judgment
One of the biggest possible reasons this proceeding has dragged on so long is because technically, Jolie and Pitt are already divorced. In 2019, a judge declared the two legally single in what’s known as a bifurcated judgment, meaning they are free to marry other people as they continue to argue over their finances, custody, and all other matters related to the divorce. In California, couples can get a bifurcated divorce for almost any reason, which takes away some of the motivation to finalize things in a timely manner, explains Sophie Jacobi-Parisi, a partner in the matrimonial and family-law practice at Blank Rome who is not affiliated with the case. “I feel like there are a lot of divorces I would never have gotten done” without that incentive, she says, noting that she practices in New York and Connecticut, where bifurcated judgments are typically not allowed.

Pitt, for instance, could go ahead and marry his alleged 30-something girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, and keep fighting about Miraval for years to come (Pitt and de Ramon were just photographed strolling on the beach in Santa Barbara together in what looked to be a pap setup meant to telegraph their seriousness as a couple).

Private judge drama
Another unusual element of this case revolves around Los Angeles Judge John W. Ouderkirk, a retired judge who Jolie and Pitt hired (likely at great expense) to rule on custody for the ex-couple’s six children. In 2021, Ouderkirk decided Jolie and Pitt should have 50-50 custody. Jolie then successfully appealed to have the judge’s decision vacated — the Second District Court of Appeals ruled that Ouderkirk should be disqualified for failing to sufficiently disclose business dealings with Pitt’s attorneys. Jolie claimed the judge was

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Liptalkin
Liptalkin
CELEBRITYBreaking news: Angelina Jolie revealed the main reason for her divorce from Brad Pitt: outrageous , no one should experience suchPublished 2 days ago on December 12, 2024By Keira Walters

On August 14, 2014, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married in a small ceremony in the chapel on the grounds of their French winery, Chateau Miraval. Just over two years later, on a private flight from Miraval back to Los Angeles, Pitt allegedly had a physical confrontation with Jolie in front of their six children, prompting her to file for divorce. Eight years later, that divorce is still not over.

Marriages between high-profile and ultrahigh-net-worth individuals can take time to unwind: There are usually shared businesses, multiple real-estate investments, and Swiss bank accounts to divvy up. But the Brangelina divorce has been a marathon even by these standards. Pitt and Jolie have gone back and forth about custody, real estate, and, of course, Chateau Miraval for years — often leaking their respective “wins” to the tabloids. What is the endgame? And why is it taking so long to get there?

The bifurcated judgment
One of the biggest possible reasons this proceeding has dragged on so long is because technically, Jolie and Pitt are already divorced. In 2019, a judge declared the two legally single in what’s known as a bifurcated judgment, meaning they are free to marry other people as they continue to argue over their finances, custody, and all other matters related to the divorce. In California, couples can get a bifurcated divorce for almost any reason, which takes away some of the motivation to finalize things in a timely manner, explains Sophie Jacobi-Parisi, a partner in the matrimonial and family-law practice at Blank Rome who is not affiliated with the case. “I feel like there are a lot of divorces I would never have gotten done” without that incentive, she says, noting that she practices in New York and Connecticut, where bifurcated judgments are typically not allowed.

Pitt, for instance, could go ahead and marry his alleged 30-something girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, and keep fighting about Miraval for years to come (Pitt and de Ramon were just photographed strolling on the beach in Santa Barbara together in what looked to be a pap setup meant to telegraph their seriousness as a couple).

Private judge drama
Another unusual element of this case revolves around Los Angeles Judge John W. Ouderkirk, a retired judge who Jolie and Pitt hired (likely at great expense) to rule on custody for the ex-couple’s six children. In 2021, Ouderkirk decided Jolie and Pitt should have 50-50 custody. Jolie then successfully appealed to have the judge’s decision vacated — the Second District Court of Appeals ruled that Ouderkirk should be disqualified for failing to sufficiently disclose business dealings with Pitt’s attorneys. Jolie claimed the judge was biased and refused to allow her children to testify about the domestic violence they allegedly endured from Pitt. Once Ouderkirk was disqualified and his decision vacated, Pitt and Jolie essentially had to start back at square one with the custody case.

“The procedure throughout this case is part of the reason why it’s gone on for so long, because going up and down on appeal and getting things set aside” takes a lot of time, said Kara Chrobak, a shareholder in Buchalter Law Firm’s Denver office and a member of the firm’s family-law group who is also not associated with the case. Hiring a private judge and then having his decisions vacated is “not common at all,” she said.

Abuse allegations and a never-ending custody battle
Another reason the divorce has carried on is that neither side has been willing to budge on custody. Jolie has maintained since she filed for divorce in 2016 that Pitt was abusive to her and the children on the private flight from France to California, and that she separated from Pitt to protect their health and safety.

As such, her attorneys have argued she should have full custody, while Pitt has pushed for joint custody. Since the documents related to the custody case are sealed, the only details we know about the decisions there come from what both sides have leaked to the tabloids. But the process has taken long enough that most of the Jolie-Pitt kids are now at an age where they can make decisions about which parent they’d like to live with and spend time with themselves.

“When you have teenage children, especially when you get to the age that they can drive, they’re sufficiently mature to really make their own choices with respect to who they want to be spending time with,” said Chrobak. “It’s very common that once kids reach driving ages, there are not going to be significant custody fights because the kids are going to do what they want to do anyway.”