Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may have finally agreed on one thing, and that is to seal up the court filings related to their child custody battle. Jolie and Pitt have had issues ever since the private flight from Europe to California on September 14, 2016, during which an alleged incident between Pitt and their children occurred.
Four days after the incident on that flight, Angelina Jolie filed for a divorce and asked for sole custody of Maddox, 15; Pax, 12; Zahara, 11; Shiloh, 10; and 8-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.
As the FBI controls jurisdiction in the air, they handled the investigation of the alleged incident on board the plane, as Buzzfeed reported, and cleared Brad Pitt of any wrongdoing.
“In response to allegations made following a flight within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, which landed in Los Angeles carrying Mr. Brad Pitt and his children, the FBI has conducted a review of the circumstances and will not pursue further investigation. No charges have been filed in this matter.”
Child welfare officials had also cleared Brad Pitt of any wrongdoing with his children.
However, despite trying to seal up court filings pertaining to their child custody battle, the famous couple have not been silent in their battle with each other. Angelina Jolie has said that Brad Pitt is trying to “publicly impugn” her character while attempting to “deflect” from his role in the media. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt has declared that Angelina Jolie “has no self-regulating mechanism.”
Of the reasons for sealing up the evidence pertaining to their child custody battle, Angelina Jolie also stated that she clearly believes Brad Pitt would “prefer to keep the entire case private, particularly given the detailed investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Children and Family Services into allegations of abuse.”
Alexandra Leichter, a family law specialist, explained to Buzzfeed that even though Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have made many public accusations against each other, this shouldn’t influence judges in any way.
???? Angelina Jolie and the kids were seen in Colorado! pic.twitter.com/iT3iAeR7RH
— Angelina Jolie (@joliestweet) January 3, 2017
Of Brad Pitt’s initial public testimony, Leichter said Pitt may have felt like he didn’t have much of a choice in the custody battle between himself and Jolie.
“It does not help the kids to have it aired like this in a high-profile case, but he may not have had a choice. He may have wanted something a lot different and he may have felt the DCFS case was dismissed, the FBI didn’t file, he was a nice guy, he made amends with one of the kids he had problems with, and she still resisted him having greater access to the children. So he may not have had a choice but to go public, it may have been his only option.”
A friend of Brad Pitt’s thinks that the recent decision by Pitt and Jolie to have their child custody case records sealed may be a sign that the relationship between Brad and Angelina might be on better terms.
“After four months of public statements, leaks, and completely unnecessary filings, which has kept this issue in the public eye, it is encouraging that her team has finally recognized the importance of maintaining the family privacy.”
It will be up to the judge, however, to determine whether these records should be permanently sealed, and another family attorney, Lynn Soodik, has her doubts as to whether Angelina Jolie really agreed to Brad Pitt’s request to seal the documents.
“This is a matter of public policy and the judge has to decide if it is in the best interest of kids to keep it private. Brad put a reason why it should be private, but her reason is why it shouldn’t be private, she basically said, in a way, ‘I agreed to this judge, but I know you are not going to agree to it because the only reason he is doing this is to keep it private.’”
The hearing that will determine whether or not Brad Pitt’s request to seal child custody matters is granted will happen on January 17.
Do you think that Angelina Jolie agrees with Brad Pitt and would also prefer to have child custody matters sealed and kept private within the confines of the court system?
[Featured Image by Eric Charbonneau/AP Images]
