Brad Pitt is challenging Angelina Jolie’s win in their child custody case.
A lawyer for Pitt filed a petition with the California Supreme Court arguing that the actress should not have been granted custody of the couple’s five minor children due to an “administrative error” by Judge John W. Ouderkirk, a temporary judge they jointly selected.
Ouderkirk granted the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star joint custody in May, but the judge was later disqualified for not adequately disclosing business ties with Pitt’s attorneys.
In the documents, obtained by Variety, lawyers working for the actor argue dismissing the judge “effectively upended the constitutionally authorised temporary judging system in California” and “throws open the door to disqualification challenges at any point during a case, even if the party raising the motion has long been on notice about the alleged grounds for disqualification”.
“In so doing, the opinion is guaranteed to fuel disqualification gamesmanship and raises serious questions as to whether the temporary judging system is a viable option in California’s severely backlogged judicial system,” the documents continue.
The Tomb Raider star filed for divorce in 2016, after two years of marriage and ten years together. Ouderkirk, who married the couple in 2014, confirmed their divorce in 2019.
Jolie fought to have Ouderkirk removed from the case, first losing her petition for his removal. She won an appeal, which cited business ties between Pitt’s lawyers and the judge, earlier this year.
“We are seeking review in the California Supreme Court because the temporary judge, who had been appointed and repeatedly renewed by both sides, was improperly disqualified after providing a detailed, fact-based custodial decision, following a lengthy legal process with multiple witnesses and experts,” Pitt’s lawyers said in a statement.
Pitt and Jolie share six children; three adopted, three biological. Following 20-year-old Maddox, their five minor children are Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 13.
