Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are once again butting heads over the removal of a private judge looking after their four-year divorce case. The 56-year-old actor's legal team reacts to his former wife's decision to remove Judge John W. Ouderkirk amid the continuation of their divorce battle.
In the legal documents People obtained, Pitt's lawyers accused Jolie of creating a "transparently tactical gambit to delay proceedings." They also claimed that this move would only affect their six children the most.
The film producer's legal counsel explained the kids would continuously be deprived of a "final resolution" to their parents' longstanding custody battle. They also described the 45-year-old actress' motion as a "thinly-veiled attempt to delay the adjudication of the custody issues in this case."
According to Fox News, Jolie filed the paperwork for Ouderkirk's removal from the case on Aug. 7. She alleged he was late and had no progress about the other cases he was hired to do, which involved Pitt's lawyer, Anne C. Kiley.
Pitt and Jolie hired the said judge, who also officiated their marriage in 2014, to privately overlook their divorce in 2017. The Maleficent star alleged he had not disclosed mandatory details about his business and professional relationship with Pitt's attorneys on time.
She also accused Ouderkirk of being biased for not disclosing details of other divorces he was working on with Pitt's lawyers. She added she never had the chance to even "raise a concern or object to" the alleged growing business relationships Ouderkikr had with Pitt's counsel.
By its looks, Jolie was alleging that Pitt's camp was "providing a steady stream" of cash to Ouderkirk and their possible partnerships in the future. The document continued that Ouderkirk and Pitt's relation was the perfect type of "repeat customer circumstances" that cast doubts if a private judge who was privately compensated could be neutral to his clients.
However, Pitt's team stressed Jolie was well-aware and never opposed to Ouderkirk's involvement in the case until today. People added the judge only had ten days to respond to the famed humanitarian's filing.
High-profile couples like Pitt and Jolie are opting to have a private judge's service instead to handle their divorce cases to keep the filings and personal and financial details about the probe locked and sealed. However, some of the legal moves still needed to undergo standard court procedure. The former couple parted ways in 2016.
