Why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Divorce Took 8 Years to Finalize: Specialists (Unique)

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have signed off on their divorce greater than eight years after the actress initially filed in Los Angeles Superior Court docket.

In accordance with California household lawyer Scott Weston, who doesn’t symbolize both social gathering, the size of time this took is “completely” not the norm — and a number of other elements possible contributed.

For one, Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, who wed in 2014 and share six kids, didn’t see eye to eye from the outset, setting the stage for a drawn-out showdown in what Weston calls “most likely probably the most congested superior courtroom within the nation.”

Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, citing irreconcilable variations and requested for bodily custody of Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18 and 16-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, who have been all minors on the time.

She stated in a press release that she made the choice “for the well being of the household.”

Shortly thereafter, it was revealed that Pitt was investigated by the Los Angeles County Division of Kids and Household Providers over allegations he bought “verbally abusive” and “bodily” along with his kids on a personal airplane simply earlier than Jolie filed for divorce. A lawyer for Pitt beforehand stated he would settle for accountability for some previous actions however not for issues he did not do.

John Lambros, a household regulation lawyer licensed in Florida, Michigan and Massachusetts, notes DCFS’s involvement “can critically gradual the development of a case.”

The DCFS and the FBI, which additionally regarded into the matter, concluded their investigations with out submitting any prices in opposition to Pitt, and Jolie declined to press prices. However Lambros notes that Jolie and Pitt — who was solely granted visitation along with his children on the time — continued to disagree on custody and different issues involving their kids. 

Animosity between the exes was obvious in courtroom paperwork each side filed, as Pitt sought to seal the divorce proceedings, a transfer Jolie’s camp objected to, calling it “a thinly veiled try to defend himself, reasonably than the minor kids, from public view” in a courtroom submitting of her personal. 

The acrimonious forwards and backwards “would not assist issues” relating to velocity, says Lambros. “It’s not shifting the case ahead.”

In 2017, Jolie and Pitt indicated they have been attempting to be amicable. They each “signed agreements to protect the privateness rights of their kids and household by conserving all courtroom paperwork confidential and fascinating a personal decide to make any essential authorized selections,” in keeping with a press release on the time.

However a 12 months later, issues grew ugly once more. The personal decide the couple had employed to preside over the case, John Ouderkirk, issued a ruling that outlined extra visitation for Pitt. The decide additionally warned Jolie she may very well be in peril of dropping full custody “if the Minor Kids stay closed all the way down to their father.”

In 2019, their divorce was bifurcated — each Jolie and Pitt have been declared legally single although the remainder of the problems, like custody, weren’t but settled. Lambros believes that might have eliminated a few of the exes’ incentive to wrap issues up shortly.

“What does all people wish to do whenever you’re in a divorce? You wish to get divorced,” he says. “Whenever you bifurcate that case and also you grant them their divorce, properly, quite a lot of the stress of ‘I am nonetheless married’ is gone.”

Jolie and Pitt hit one other velocity bump in 2021 when Decide Ouderkirk was faraway from the case. An appeals courtroom discovered that Ouderkirk didn’t correctly disclose enterprise dealings he had with Pitt’s attorneys. The courtroom known as his actions “an moral breach.”

“Anytime there’s an appellate process in a matter, you’ll scale back the velocity,” says Lambros. Provides Weston, “It slows down the case to a craw till that subject material is dominated upon.”

Not too long ago, they’ve additionally been battling over Miraval, the multimillion French vineyard they collectively owned. In 2022, Pitt sued Jolie for breach of contract, claiming she saved him at nighttime about promoting her share of the enterprise to a Russian oligarch. 

Taken all collectively, the problems created a “excellent storm,” says Lambros.

However on Dec. 30 each Pitt and Jolie signed the divorce settlement. “Angelina is exhausted, however she is relieved this one half is over,” her divorce lawyer James Simon of Hersh Mannis instructed PEOPLE in a press release. A rep for Pitt declined to substantiate or remark.