Abuse allegation may be at center of split
Source: Claims against Pitt are ‘exaggerated or fabricated’
Suppose you are divorcing and seeking sole custody of your kids. Now suppose your spouse is accused of child abuse. Who do you think is in the better negotiating position when the divorce lawyers sit down to dicker?
Even non-lawyers can see the answer is obvious. This hypothetical situation may not be so hypothetical in the pending divorce of Hollywood icons Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
“For a very sexy couple, I think that this is going to be a very un- sexy divorce,” says family-law attorney Jacqueline Newman, partner at Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd in New York.
WHAT’S THE LATEST?
Early Thursday, TMZ landed a story asserting that Pitt, 52, is “under investigation” by authorities in Los Angeles for allegedly getting verbally and physically abusive with his children while in the air on a private jet and continuing on the tarmac after landing in Minnesota on Sept. 14.
The timing has caused speculation that it precipitated the couple’s separation the next day and Jolie’s filing for divorce on Monday, in which she took the relatively rare step of seeking sole physical custody of their six kids. Jolie has not commented. A source close to Pitt, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told USA TODAY that Pitt is taking this matter “very seriously and is fully cooperating. The claims are greatly exaggerated or fabricated. But he’ll always do whatever is best for his kids. Despite being on the receiving end of an onslaught of allegations, he remains focused on doing whatever is best for the children.” WHAT DO AUTHORITIES SAY? USA TODAY, People and other media outlets confirmed portions of the TMZ story with unnamed sources. But the Los Angeles Police Department denied it was investigating. And under California law, the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services cannot confirm or deny anything.
“LAPD is not handling any report or allegations into child
abuse against Brad Pitt,” public information officer Jenny Houser told USA TODAY.
“The law does not allow us to confirm or deny the subjects or content of our investigations,” children’s services spokesman Armand Montiel told USA TODAY.
TMZ updated its story to say the accusations were referred to the FBI because the incident allegedly took place in the air while the family was flying from France to the U.S. The FBI in Los Angeles has not returned calls from USA TODAY. HOW ARE CHILD ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS HANDLED? What could be the consequences?
Under the usual procedures, divorce lawyer Neena Tankha in New York says, an allegation made to Children and Family Services department would result in a caseworker being assigned to investigate. If that investigation finds evidence of abuse, it would be relevant in a custody case.
An investigation “almost always involves meeting with the accused parent, meeting with the child and meeting with any witnesses who were present during the incident,” Tankha says. “From there, the caseworker will prepare a report of his/her findings. In the event Angelina continues to pursue litigation to gain custody of the children, the caseworker’s report will surely come into play.”
Such investigations could take weeks or months to sort out, adds California divorce lawyer Monica Mazzei Potter. Meanwhile, the accused spouse might lose contact with the kids, she says.
“More than 50% of the time, judges will suspend contact with the kids or order supervised visits until they get to the bottom (of allegations),” she says.
An investigation could lead to criminal charges, Tankha says, but probably won’t. WHAT HAPPENS IF THE ACCUSATIONS ARE UNTRUE? It still puts the accused spouse in a weaker position regarding divorce and custody, Potter, says: “Any person going up against false allegations of abuse, even though you’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, you have an uphill battle of presenting evidence that it’s not true, so yes he’s in a weaker position.”
If there’s been some fabrication or exaggeration (TMZ reported the accusations came from an anonymous caller who supposedly witnessed it on the airport tarmac), the Children and Family Services investigation would find that, Tankha says. ARE SUCH ACCUSATIONS COMMON IN DIVORCE AND CUSTODY CASES? Yes, Potter says, even though it’s not uncommon they are false. But they still have to be investigated.
“It is not uncommon to have child abuse reports at the time of divorce or separation,” says Sheila Boxley, CEO of the Child Abuse Prevention Center. “Those are always things that get looked at very carefully because of that.”
There’s a difference between verbal abuse and scolding children, Boxley says: The former has a legal definition under California law and the latter doesn’t.
“Positive discipline or corrective action, those are certainly not verbal abuse,” she says. “Abuse is when it’s demeaning, when it is unwarranted, when there’s another aspect to it. ... Physical abuse is a lot easier (to determine) because you can have forensic evidence. It’s very hard to investigate verbal abuse by itself, particularly in young children, because their ability to effectively communicate about that is somewhat limited.” WHAT EFFECT COULD ALL THIS HAVE ON THE CHILDREN? Protecting the children from further trauma should be the goal, says child psychiatrist Mark Banschick, retired expert witness in child custody disputes and author of The Intelligent Divorce books.
“The No. 1 thing is to protect the innocence of children,” Banschick says. “They can be traumatized by something that happened, but they can also be traumatized by the public humiliation that the family can experience by this exposure. The news media should really handle this in a way that respects the children.” PITT DENIES THE ACCUSATIONS. BUT WHAT IF HE SEEKS TREATMENT? “It definitely helps,” Newman says. “If ultimately there is a finding that he is abusive, he’s definitely going to have to seek treatment, whether it’s anger management, whether it’s parenting classes or whatever. If in fact there is any kind of alcohol or drug situation, he’s going to have to take care of that. He’s got to put himself into a fit place to be able to care for his children.”