Custody issue central in Jolie-Pitt drama
In the global hubbub over the Brangelina divorce, Angelina Jolie Pitt’s demand for sole physical custody of her six children with Brad Pitt has attracted its share of the attention. Yet experts say Jolie Pitt won’t have the final say, and that Pitt and the couple’s eldest son may even have a voice in custody arrangements.
Pitt has yet to file his legal response to Jolie Pitt’s divorce petition, but each actor released statements Tuesday indicating their children were the priority. The pair has six children, ranging in ages from 8-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne to 15-year-old Maddox.
California law favors joint custody of children, and judges can generally consider the opinion of children who are 14 years or older about which parent they want to live with.
Attorney Laura Wasser, who filed Jolie Pitt’s divorce on Monday, also represented Robyn Gibson, former wife of actor Mel Gibson, and Maria Shriver, former wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger. was thrust back into the news Tuesday when word broke of her ex-husband’s newest divorce.
In 2000, Brad Pitt married the “Friends” actress, who eventually earned $1 million an episode.
But the circumstances of their split — which happened 11 years ago, more than double the length the marriage lasted — have caused Aniston to be forever linked to Pitt and Angelina Jolie. There was intense speculation that Pitt and Jolie began their romance in 2004 on the set of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” while he was still married to Aniston.
Pitt and Jolie were constantly invoked whenever new developments about Aniston’s love life arose, including when she announced her engagement to Justin Theroux. She met Theroux around 2011 and the pair married last year. David Stern Shari Belafonte