Angelina Jolie’s chances of reversing ruling in court war with Brad Pitt are very low
Angelina Jolie appealed the recent decision by the judge in her and Brad Pitt’s longstanding divorce case
June 13, 2021
A lawyer has given a word of caution to Angelina Jolie as she seeks to overturn the recent ruling that awarded her and ex-husband Brad Pitt joint custody of their five minor children.
The Maleficent actor appealed the recent decision by the judge in her and Pitt’s longstanding divorce case.
Celebrity divorce attorney Michael Stutman explained to HollywoodLife how Jolie’s chances of succeeding with the reversal are very low.
“The burden for someone who is appealing the finding of the trial judge is really high, because the appellate courts don’t want to sit as trial judges, and to determine facts,” he said.
“Appeals are not typical, a very small portion of trial court decisions after hearings are appealed, just because the odds of winning are very small,” he continued.
“The odds are long, unless you’ve got something that is really seriously bad,” he said adding that the reason the kids weren’t allowed to testify in the case was because “the benefit of hearing what they have to say, does not outweigh the burden of having them in.”
“I have friends who are 50, 60, years old, who were involved in their parents’ custody battles, and they remember they remember what they were wearing. They remember what the courthouse looked like, they remember what everybody else said, it’s very impactful, terrible thing,” he shared.
Moreover, Los Angeles family lawyer Kelly Chang Rickert was also of the same opinion, as she said the chances of Jolie succeeding were one percent: “It’s very unlikely that she’ll win on appeal.”
She went on to say that the only way she could would be thought a “prejudicial legal error.”
“It’s been determined that it’s in the best interest of the children to spend time with their father. If the trial judge already made a finding that it’s not in the best interest for the kids to testify, then the appeals judge would likely side with the trial judge. People don’t want to involve kids. This is not their divorce against the father,” added Rickert.
