In 2005, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt made a movie together while Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston. A scandal ensued alleging that Jolie and Pitt were having an affair. Shortly after making the movie, Pitt separated from Aniston and began a 12-year relationship with Jolie. The relationship was dubbed by the press as “Brangelina.” Their relationship grew to two parents and six children – three biological and three adopted. Pitt and Jolie married in 2014. They separated and Jolie filed for divorce in 2016. She requested physical custody of their children due to an alleged child endangerment incident by Pitt. By June of 2018, however, they mutually agreed to a joint custody agreement.
On August 8, 2018, NBC News reported that Angelina Jolie filed a new petition in court stating that Pitt hasn't paid any "meaningful" child support for a year and a half. (There is nothing in the court papers to indicate that Pitt was to pay Jolie a set amount of child support for their six children.)
According to Jolie’s petition, "…Given the informal arrangements around the payment of the children's expenses have not been regularly sustained by [Pitt] for over a year and a half, [Jolie] intends to file anRFO for the establishment of a retroactive child support order." (An RFO is a request for a court order.) The petition did not define what "meaningful" support” is.
"…[Pitt] has a duty to pay child support. As of present, [Pitt] has paid no meaningful child support since separation," in the brief filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Later that same day, Pitt fired back that he did pay “meaningful” child support in the amount of over $9 million dollars! According to Pitt’s lawyers, Pitt gave Jolie an $8 million-dollar loan so she could buy the house she and the children are living in and has also paid over $1.3 million is direct child support for the children.
According to TMZ, Pitt’s lawyers further allege “Angelina and her lawyers have engaged in dirty tricks, calling them out for "a thinly-veiled effort to manipulate media coverage." Brad's lawyers point to Angelina's legal docs that were filed earlier this week, in which she asks the judge to grant the divorce quickly so she can be a single woman again ... leaving child support and other issues for a later date.”
It is not unusual for divorces to become contentious with both parties accusing each other of bad behavior. However, there are laws that both parties must follow for the protection of their minor children and community property.
In this situation, there appears to be no specific court order regarding child support. California law says that both parents are responsible for the support of their children. As to the amount of support, if the parents cannot agree on an amount, the court will do it for them. In fact, the court (and all family law attorneys) have a computer program that will provide the specific amount. The program is called The Dissomaster.
The other contention of both parties in this situation is regarding the divorce itself. Before a divorcing party can remarry, that person must receive a final judgment of divorce from the court. However, since many divorces have numerous issues, California also allows spouses to bifurcate (separate) their actual divorce from all the other issues from their marriage (such as spousal/child support, property issues, etc.). Here, they appear to be fighting over who requested the bifurcated divorce first.
Stay tuned for the next episode of Breaking Up Brangelina!