Angelina Jolie: Why It’s Unlikely She’ll Prevent Brad Pitt From Getting Joint Custody Of Their Kids

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It’s been three long years since Angelina Jolie, 44, filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, 55, and they still haven’t come to a finalized deal on sharing custody of their five minor children Pax, 15, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, Knox, 11, and Vivienne, 11 (eldest son Maddox is now 18). The children have lived with their mom since the split, and even though Brad has been getting more and more time with them, he wants 50/50 physical custody. Angelina is still seeking to maintain sole physical custody, and a lawyer tells us she’s likely to lose.

“It’s very unlikely (Angelina will maintain sole custody). Unless the court sees that Brad is an unfit parent somehow, if there is evidence of child abuse or drug/alcohol abuse by Brad, then it’s unlikely a judge would grant Angelina sole custody,” David T. Pisarra, California Family Law Attorney EXCLUSIVELY tells HollywoodLife.com. “She is being very unreasonable. As far as we’re concerned, Brad is a good father, he cares about his children, so there should be no reason she should receive sole custody.”

David explains to us, “Primary custody technically isn’t a legal term, but it basically means one parent has custody of the kids more than 50 percent of the time. What she’s probably asking for is sole legal and sole physical custody which means she would have the right to take the kids wherever she goes, make decisions for them as far as schooling, healthcare, etc.”

He adds that “She may have primary custody right now because she spends more than 50 percent of the time with the kids, but that doesn’t mean she has rights to make all the decisions for them. If Brad is going to the children’s doctors appointments, visiting their schools, etc. then he has just as much a right to make decisions for the kids in terms of medical care, schooling, etc.”

As we previously reported, Angelina wants to maintain primary custody of her kids because that’s the way it’s been since Sept. of 2016 and it would be “very hard” for her to give that up. “She has no issues with Brad spending time with the kids and she is being sure to follow all visitation guidelines set down by the courts, but she doesn’t want to give up primary custody,” the source clarifies to HollywoodLife. “Of course, if the law requires her to give Brad joint custody she will comply, that’s a given.” Should that actually happen, however, “it will be very hard on her because the kids are her world.”