Angelina Jolie, divorce judge Brad Pitt disqualified by the Court of Appeals – The Hollywood Reporter

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Angelina Jolie scored a major victory Friday in her divorce from Brad Pitt when a California appeals court agreed with her to disqualify the special judge who will decide who will receive custody of their children.

The 2nd District Court of Appeals agreed with Jolie that Judge John W. Oderkerk had not adequately disclosed business relations with Pitt’s attorney.

“Judge Ouderkirk’s ethical breach, together with information disclosed in connection with his recent professional relations with Pete’s attorney, may cause an objective person, with knowledge of all the facts, to doubt the judge’s ability to be biased. The court ruled that disqualification Required “.

The decision meant that the custody struggle over the couple’s five underage children, which was about to end, could only begin. The judge did indeed rule the couple for divorce, but he separated the child custody issues.

Like many celebrity couples, Pitt and Jolie chose to appoint their own judge to increase their privacy in the divorce proceedings. “The appeals court’s ruling was based on a technical procedural issue. The facts have not changed. An extraordinary amount of factual evidence has led the judge – and the many experts who testified – to reach a clear conclusion about what is in the best interests of the children,” a statement by Pete’s representative said. Doing what is legally necessary based on the detailed findings of what is best for children.”

Details of the detention provisions have not been made public. Jolie and Pitt have six children: 19-year-old Maddox, 17-year-old Pax, 16-year-old Zahara, 15-year-old Shiloh, 12-year-old Vivian and 12-year-old Knox. Only five minors are subject to custody decisions.

Ouderkirk refused to disqualify himself when Julie asked him to do so on file in August. A lower court judge ruled that Jolie’s request for disqualification came too late. Then Jolie’s lawyers appealed.

Oral arguments July 9 before the Court of Appeals focused on the ethical rules that should apply to special judges, who, like Ouderkirk, are usually retired Supreme Court judges.

“If you’re going to play a paid special judge, you have to play by the rules and the rules are very clear, it requires complete transparency,” said Jolie’s lawyer, Robert Olson. “The things that should have been revealed have not been revealed.”

Pitt’s attorney, Theodore Boutros, said the disqualification attempt was a stalling tactic by Jolie to prevent Ouderkirk’s latest provisional custody decision, which is in Pitt’s favour, from taking effect.

The court cited several cases, including the divorce of Modern Family founder Stephen Levitan, in which Ouderkirk completely failed to disclose a working relationship with Pete’s attorney or failed to disclose one quickly or completely.

The commission questioned whether such an arrangement should be allowed in California at all, but their ruling only applies to Ouderkirk.

Jolie, 46, and Pitt, 57, have been Hollywood’s hottest couples for 12 years. Ouderkirk presided over the couple’s wedding in 2014, then was hired to oversee their divorce when Jolie filed for an annulment in 2016. The divorce was announced in April 2019, after their lawyers requested a provision allowing the couple to declare they were single while other cases remained, including Including finances and child custody.

In May, Jolie and her lawyers criticized Ouderkirk for not allowing the couple’s children to testify in the proceedings.

The actress also said the judge “failed to adequately consider” a section of the California Courts Code, which she says is detrimental to the best interests of the child if custody is granted to someone with a history of domestic violence. Her file did not reveal details of what she was referring to, but her attorneys submitted a sealed document in March that they claim provides additional information.

The ruling did not address whether children should be allowed to testify in the case.

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