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

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.

Based on California household lawyer Scott Weston, who doesn’t symbolize both get together, the size of time this took is “completely” not the norm — and a number of other components seemingly contributed.

For one, Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, who wed in 2014 and share six youngsters, didn’t see eye to eye from the outset, setting the stage for a drawn-out showdown in what Weston calls “in all probability essentially the most congested superior court docket 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 had been all minors on the time.

She stated in an announcement 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 Companies over allegations he bought “verbally abusive” and “bodily” along with his youngsters on a non-public 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 legislation 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 seemed into the matter, concluded their investigations with out submitting any costs towards Pitt, and Jolie declined to press costs. 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 youngsters. 

Animosity between the exes was obvious in court docket 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 protect himself, fairly than the minor youngsters, from public view” in a court docket submitting of her personal. 

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

In 2017, Jolie and Pitt indicated they had been making an attempt to be amicable. They each “signed agreements to protect the privateness rights of their youngsters and household by holding all court docket paperwork confidential and interesting a non-public decide to make any needed authorized selections,” in line with an announcement on the time.

However a yr later, issues grew ugly once more. The non-public 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 might be at risk of shedding 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 had been declared legally single despite the fact that the remainder of the problems, like custody, weren’t but settled. Lambros believes that would have eliminated a few of the exes’ incentive to wrap issues up rapidly.

“What does everyone need to do whenever you’re in a divorce? You need to get divorced,” he says. “Once you bifurcate that case and also you grant them their divorce, nicely, plenty of the strain 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 court docket discovered that Ouderkirk didn’t correctly disclose enterprise dealings he had with Pitt’s attorneys. The court docket referred to as his actions “an moral breach.”

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

Lately, 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 advised PEOPLE in an announcement. A rep for Pitt declined to verify or remark.