Angelina Jolie switched divorce lawyers in August. Samantha DeJean is a well-respected California lawyer, but she is not part of the LA-lawyer pool at all. She does not have relationships with the tabloids, nor does she have Harvey Levin on speed-dial. Interestingly enough, for all the whining from Brad’s team about Angelina’s lawyer change, the change actually did work – TMZ hasn’t written a nasty article about Angelina in almost two months exactly. Page Six and Us Weekly still do Brad’s dirty work, but the wave of toxicity coming from Team Pitt really did settle down all of a sudden as soon as DeJean came onboard. Angelina’s narrative changed too – there were suddenly quotes like this: Jolie has “tried to bridge the gap between the kids and their dad. She’s worked to achieve reinstatement for them. But it’s now between Brad, his kids, and the court. The court will determine things.” Well, now the main show really gets going: the evaluations of the kids have started, and those evaluations will have a big impact on child custody.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have taken a further step into their divorce proceedings. The two have begun child custody evaluations as their court-appointed evaluator, Dr. Stan Katz, listed his qualifications in court documents obtained by PEOPLE. Katz filed the documents on Oct. 12 to let the court know he was qualified in proceeding with his evaluations of the pair’s six children: Zahara, 13, Shiloh, 12, 10-year-olds Vivienne and Knox, Maddox, 16, and Pax, 14.
Jolie, 43, announced she and divorce attorney Laura Wasser had gone their separate ways last month as the Oscar winner — who a source told PEOPLE “remains focused on healing her family” — transitioned to new counsel in her ongoing divorce with the actor.
In August, Pitt, 54, and Jolie agreed to continue their interim child custody agreement, a source told PEOPLE at the time.
This was, arguably, one of the big reasons Angelina switched lawyers mid-divorce, I feel. There was talk of “trust issues” and Laura Wasser’s closeness to the LA media scene (especially Harvey Levin), and all of that could have been a major factor. But Angelina wanted a wartime consigliere. She wanted someone who would fight the good fight for custody of the kids. It will get very interesting from here.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
The kids aren’t little anymore. Idk why they just can’t visit who they want when they want. If they don’t want to see Pitt that is on him. Don’t both Pitt and AJ live in the same neighborhood? And I’m sure the nannies go with the younger ones so there would always be other adults around. Are nannies mandated reporters in CA?
My kids were 11 and 13 when they were interviewed for visitation. When all was said and done, the two had to see their father for a few hours every Sunday. And that didn’t last long either.
I was 10 years old when I was bought into Judge’s chambers during my parents custody fight…and that was in the 1970s…..The Judge asked me who I wanted to live with…and I said…”My Mama”…and that was that…
Sigh…
To those who have a better understanding of this process, I have a question. Do courts routinely insist that minor children have visitation with a parent regardless of whether the child wants to see that parent? If a child just outright says no, I want nothing to do with mom/dad, do the courts still insist on the child visiting the parent?
Most states have an age where kids can decide (16 I think is the most common). If they are younger, the court will usually put in visitations unless there are issues of ongoing abuse or things like that.
The interviews have an input, but kids also have bad days, hold a grudge etc. For the most part courts will try to keep parents in their kids lives whenever possible.
That said, sometimes they take it too far.
A friend’s daughter had to visit with her father for about a year after the divorce, despite the fact that the father tried to put her in conversion therapy, and basically belittled her her sexuality for years. The second she turned sixteen, the visits were done.
Most states now find that both parents involved is the ideal scenario. They have to ensure the kids are not being brainwashed by one side of the other, they have to ensure that whoever has custodial rights will not alienate the other. Its never black and white. With the exception of abuse cases, it is rare for a child to say they want nothing to do with the other parent. I do not mean to say it never happens or that it cannot happen, but when the parents split and everyone is doing what they are supposed to, its not a usual tendency. (NOTE I did not say that anyone did or did not abuse the other in this case)
Its also worth pointing out, only as an example, if the court find one is hindering the other, such as saying “Daddy left us” or “Mommy won’t let me take you to the circus” its not good. That is considered parental alienation. It will impact the courts decision.
All that aside, I feel so bad for the kids that this is playing out so publicly.
Breen is correct about how it’s done now in California. That’s how my case played out. In these instances, when a parent is working to alienate the other parent, experienced, reputable psychologists and judges know the difference by how the kids respond. If there are abuse allegations, a repuatable psychological custody evaluator will conduct personality tests for all of the accusations, will speak to all parties and to relevant witnesses, and even conduct s sessions between the parties to observe the communication dynamics of the family. The best thing for the “rational” parent to do is to step back and let the process play out. Crazy can’t hide from the Minnesota Personality test. The abused parent gets sort of battered in the process, but you do it to protect your kids. It took a long time, and a lot of money to pay for all of the psychologists and attorneys, and I am lucky to have had the resources to fight. My kid is now free, doesn’t have to see him, and the state and the feds know that he’s violent. He goes to jail soon for other stuff. Jolie did the right thing by going with a pro in child custody rather than a movie star lawyer. It shows the court that this isn’t about her.
I’m sure if they split custody, her fans will say it’s wrong and if she gets full custody, his fans will say it’s wrong, but I don’t think any reasonable person can say they aren’t being extremely thorough. I hope people just accept whatever the court decides because whatever decision is reached, they aren’t doing any of this haphazardly.
These evaluations are going into the third year for pitt, the question that the tabloid media and public refuses to ask Why is it taking so long for him to get 50/50 custody?
Why indeed? I don’t think Brad stans can answer that.
Of course they cant answer that it is glaring for all to see that something huge and terrifying went down between Pitt and his kids.. It is going to get interesting from here on…
Andrea….it’s more than that. He’s got something seriously wrong with him…..that’s not fixable…..or kid friendly.
Look what he did to the people in New Orleans and the native Americans on that reservation……with his building scam. He is a slick dishonest dude.
Wonder how those lawsuits are going?
Nope. Nope. Nope. He was cleared from that in less than a month. If it was “huge’’ and “terrifying’ that would not have been the case. That lie needs to end.
Sadly, parents try to do all kinds of things without repercussions. For example, my niece was held my her mother last year for almost 2 months before the court could figure it out.
It is mindblowing isnt it? Everyone else even a guy like Tom Cruise who was at least as powerful as Pitt was getting called out regularly but Brad just sails through this. Plus with Cruise there was the crazy cult but never any allegation of absuing his child.
And that so many people have to evaluate his relationship with the children is a major red flag.
Samantha has been a saviour for Angelina and the children because she truly is fighting for them.
She also gagged Brad & his team and came out winning.
She will make sure Angelina & especially the children will have their voices heard.
Yes Maya! Getting Samantha on board was a huge win for Angie and i believe Brad is going to get his ass kicked in court.
Can you imagine if this was the other way round the tabloids would have gone berserk and be questioning why Angie is been evaluated and has not been seen in public with her kids. SMH for the hypocrisy
He begun in 2017
01/25/2017 Declaration (of private child custody evaluator re: qaulifications filed by Stan J. Katz, Ph.D. )
He sure did! This just proves how some in the media latches onto something and just goes with it instead of doing a little digging to report what are actual facts. Wouldn’t make sense for him to submit his qualifications twice to the court so it has to be possibly something else and the media is guessing on the evaluation just now getting started. Time will reveal what’s really going on.
He starts from 2017 of January. Supposedly, he re-declared or something after a year. What happened from january to september?
ANP: bingo!
Since it’s taken so long, does anyone besides me have a suspicion that the parents are having second and third thoughts, that they don’t really want to divorce but are trapped by their own feelings of hurt, pain, anger, resentment, pride and stubbornness ifrom seeing a way out? The longer this divorce drags out, the more I start questioning if this is what they really want.
good for him
An evaluation is different from an in camera interview.
An in camera interview is an interview done by the Judge and the Guardian ad Litem for the kids of the kids.
An evaluation is examination performed by a mental health expert. If he/she was just appointed, that the parties are fighting in a way that the truer of fact needs another voice or one of the parties requested an evaluation.
It seems to me that this case is riddled with parental alienation and inappropriate behavior.
Enough with the parental alienation bs since it’s right there on the court order that Brad is still not allowed to see the children without supervision.
More and more evidence coming out that Brad didn’t follow the therapists recommendation, he stalled the divorce, didn’t pay child support, loaned his ex wife money so that she could find a house for the children he threw out.
And as mentioned above, this specialist has been evaluating the children and Brad since 2017.
@Maya Thank you for the real truth!
As an divorce attorney, I say parental alienation is real, whether it is your client or the opposing litigants.
The fact that this evaluation possibly commenced in 2017 and is still on going is problematic.
I have very little interest of either one of these people but the fact that these children are being subjected this long drawbout process, is not a good thing.
Either a guy is a good dad, and ok to be around kids…….or he’s not.
Mr Pitt clearly has long term deep seated mental issues…..that millions of dollars and fancy attorneys can’t hide or fix………nothing will ever make him a good dad……….or decent human being for that matter. He is a narcissist and in the dangerous clinical sense.
The time of Brad hiding his true identity and riding the coat tails and success of the women he gloms onto is OVER. (And so is the subsequent throwing them under the bus when they out his true nature)
Buh bye.
Thanks, Flying Fish. I had read somewhere the ongoing custody issues like supervised visits were actually more about helping the kids recover from parental alienation, which their private judge had talked about, than actual risk to the kids from their dad (private judge also said kids had to be told there was no danger of that).
This just tells me Pitt was always about him image and not custody arrangements (well duh Tiffany). Was there really any doubt that Jolie was going to do the heavy lifting and the kids would be with her more than 50% of the time. DeJean is doing her job and doing it well. Wessler dropped the ball trying to cater to Pitt. He ain’t gonna call her for his next divorce.
EXACTLY! He has always been about his imagine and it will be interesting to see how things go from here
No doubt Brad (the) Pit(t)s will try to make the death throes of the divorce a very public Kramer vs Kramer. He cares for nothing but winning and keeping his ego ticking over. He wouldn’t have gone so publicly and viciously after the mother of his children had he truly put their welfare first. I mean, how much must it hurt those kids to see their mother treated like this???
No one is alienating pitt from his children. If he was really concerned about the health and welfare of children he would have went to Rehab years ago. Stop enabling the so call man who has displayed Bad Behavior toward his family.
He gets more excuses than any male celebrity for his Bad Behavior.
Is Angelina working for NATO in some way (based on the picture of her speaking)?
Yes, Angelina is in partnership with NATO to prevent crimes against women in war.
If the leaking stopped when AJ changed lawyers, that would suggest the leaks to TMZ, etc had been coming from Wasser, not Pitt’s people, no?
LOL, don’t say that too loud.
They were working together. She gave into his and his team’ whims. That’s why the stories (lies) were put out there on Angie. Wasser actually should be penatlized for this. She wanted to move quickly b/c she has so many other celebrity clients. But Angie was like nah. Lol.
Meanwhile, Brad’s lawyer is not very good. It’s been almost three years since Angie filed for divorce and he still has supervised visits. Brad should be pissed at himself and his lawyer. But then again, this may show how bad Brad messed up. His lawyer has nothing to work with in getting Brad just 50/50. SMH.
Bingo!
It stopped after she put out the statement that an agreement had been reached, and there was no longer a need for a hearing, and that it was over. That was In August.
I don’t believe anything his people put out there. He is a liar. Always has been.
He lost in August. Period.
Nope it just shows that Laura didn’t care Brad leaked stuff so didn’t gag him legally.
Samantha put a stop to it immediately.
It makes you wonder what exactly was going on there. Laura Wasser has always been close to Harvey Levin and TMZ was her main attack dog on Amber Heard. What she’d get out of leaking bad stuff about her own client, I don’t know. TMZ also had all of the early scoops from Camp Jolie. At some point the tide turned.
Brad put them on the payroll to insure that doesn’t happen again. ( anyone being pro Jolie)
He’ll pay to keep that charade of an image up…(brads stilll so hot, everyone loves Brad, Angie is sorry and missing Brad. Lol….and on and on) …………………just not for his kids.
Lol. Keep on keepin on Brad.
I think she definitely leaked the last story, which was she was “breaking up” with Jolie as a lawyer. The rest I have no clue. I only know she’s into peaceful co-parenting for her clients.
Roti……But how is she on child welfare and endangerment? Skipping over one huge factor there ….the fact that one parent was a raging alcoholic. But nice try.
@roti Yeah, I’ve read she is a big proponent of mediation for custody disputes. Shady as hell to be leaking info about why she was leaving the Jolie legal team though. Even if Angelina had no interest in Wasser’s preference or advice, she was her lawyer, she shouldn’t be leaking anything about her own client.
BB, maybe she was interested in preserving her own legal reputation. She didn’t want a bunch of stories coming out about people speculating Jolie dropped her as a lawyer, so she got it out there first. As I recall Jolie never said she was dropping Wasser; she said the new lawyer was joining her existing team and said Wasser wasn’t leaving when the news first broke.
I’m the end the kids best interest will prevail. You haven’t seen this man publicly with his kids in two plus years now. I guess they have been alienated? They have been in court two years. No way a judge would allow that. So stop the BS about her keeping them from him.
I don’t know why people keep saying they feel bad for the kids b/c this is playing out in the public. Brad keeps using that line b/c he wants that to be the reason he’s not w/ the kids. But that’s not the reason. He’s to blame for all this so it should be Brad messed up and those poor kids were put through the ringer b/c him.
Plus, yes, divorce is terrible but these kids seem well-adjusted. As much as celebrity kids can be. Let’s be honest, we really won’t know how they are until they are older anyway in terms of what they do and how they live their lives. I think for know though the girls (Viv and Zahara) will see Brad and the boys (Knox and Pax) will go but that will stop especially when Pax turns 16 like Maddox. Shiloh is the interesting one in this to me b/c I don’t know how she’s really feeling about him, nothing has been said about her feelings. (I remember when someone said Maddox could of being standing up for her b/c Brad may have said something about her during the plane incident). If that’s the truth, then she not going as much either.
I think he was always closest to Shiloh and Zahara. The story that was reported before was he and Angelina were fighting, Maddox stepped in between them to defend her, and Brad reacted with physical force, pushing him or hitting him.
I don’t like speculating that he said something offensive about one of his kids because it’s basically just people insulting the kids under the guise of “Brad probably said it.”
I believe some of the leaks from his own team said the two elder boys, Maddox and Pax, aren’t interested in seeing him and the girls are more open to it.
Angie filed for divorce in Sept 2016. That’s three years w/o seeing him w/ the kids (we all know this guy loves a good photo-op) and even before that dude for about a year wasn’t there that often. There are plenty of plane pics of him coming back and forth from France. I say this to say in that time, 4 years, later the kids still have something against Brad and no matter what (therapists, judges, lawyers) some of the kids do not want to see him. We know for certainly Maddox doesn’t and Brad and his team messed themselves up when that TMZ article came out about the parental alienation. I think Angie got pissed as anyone would but she may have been more pissed at herself.
Stay w/ me now, Angie HAD been helping Brad in seeing the kids. She was feeling like maybe they all could work this out. His team and her team and the kids. Then the article came out and she was blindsided b/c it lied and only showed excerpts to make Brad look good and her bad were sent out to the media. Anger and taken aback by it all, Angie calmly dealt w/ it. Angie got a new lawyer, one that’s not in any celebrity circles and one who will work for just her. Then she removed herself from it all. She now says it’s btw the kids, the courts and their father. Brad lost her (an ally), again. Lol. Brad is now out there trying to figure out how to get just 50/50 custody. He’s lost b/c the kids are giving him an inch but that’s all.
No matter how this thing turns out, Brad totally lost his kids after that plane incident.
At this point he’ll be happy w the public believing that it’s still going on. I fully believe it was done in Aug. dragging out old paperwork like it’s new is brads teams tactic.
He lost in August…..and it’s been a done deal.
Why would the court appointed evaluator be filing documents with the court in October if it was done in August?
“01/25/2017 Declaration (of private child custody evaluator re: qaulifications filed by Stan J. Katz, Ph.D.”
Yeah I saw that in another comment, but the article says he just filed something else on October 12
Just because a people mag article says something…..I wouldn’t hold my breath ….lol. They will also tell you how he dated A professor lady…….but she came out and said what we all knew……that it never happened. So……………..
Why would anyone be releasing anything about six kids to people magazine is a bigger and more poignant question. Maybe a movie coming out? And unless I saw the actual document In person………i wouldn’t believe it.
BRad Pitt will lie lie lie. As history has proven time and time again. Spanning decades. He’s a LIAR.
I love that losing six kids because of long term abusive behavior….is gonna be his legacy.
He’ll never live it down. His image (the only thing he truly cares about) is permanently tarnished…………..its karmic.
He can’t even get the hits anymore on gossip sites…..cause we’ve all moved on. LOL
So long loser!
I think these two should get back together. They have so many kids. Also, they are the biggest celebrity brand in the world. Kudos to Jolie for sticking it out as long as she did because Pitt seems like he’s dumber than a box of rocks.