Their Poor Youngsters! Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt’s Custody Battle Is Worse Than We Thought

Things keep getting worse for Angelina Jolie in her ongoing custody battle with Brad Pitt. The ex-couple has been fighting in and out of court for custody of their five younger children for months.

And now each actor’s lawyers have met again for a hearing, this time about the judge on the case.

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Jolie’s attorney Robert Olson argued at the appeals court hearing that the current judge, John W. Ouderkirk, should be removed from the case. Pitt’s attorney argued against this stance.

Olson said Ouderkirk is not impartial as he works on other legal matters affecting Pitt’s attorney Thomas Boutrous. Jolie and her legal team had already tried to have Ouderkirk removed from the case for the same reason.

Pitt’s attorney fired back at Olson, saying, “Here in a custody case that’s going on for so long, the kids are getting older and such a delaying tactic would be utterly unfair.”

He added: “There were no surprises. Ms. Jolie and her lawyer knew about the relationship and the reasons. “

The five children in question are Pax (17), Zahara (16), Shiloh (14), Vivienne (12) and Knox (12). Once the children are 18 years old, there is no more worry for them.

Jolie and Pitt’s oldest child, Maddox, is 19 years old and therefore exempt from all custody decisions.

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That hearing comes just a month after Pitt was granted joint custody in a preliminary ruling.

At the time, a statement from Jolie’s legal team said: “Judge Ouderkirk denied Ms. Jolie a fair trial and inappropriately excluded her evidence relevant to the health, safety and wellbeing of the children, evidence that is critical to her argument. “