Angelina Jolie 'Fighting A Losing Battle' In Custody Case Against Brad Pitt, Lawyer Suggests

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's custody battle continues, but some legal experts believe the actress may be "fighting a losing battle."

During a remote appellate court hearing Friday, the "Maleficent" star's lawyer, Robert Olson, argued to remove Judge John W. Ouderkirk from the custody case, alleging that he was not impartial and that he was working on legal matters involving Pitt's lawyer, Entertainment Tonight reported.

"Until Ms. Jolie asked, what was going on was only known to the judge, the ARC and the opposing counsel ... she was shocked that this was going on," Olson said. "Ms. Jolie did not know anything that happened between counsel for Pitt and the judge."

However, Pitt's lawyer fired back claiming that the move was a "delaying tactic."

"Here in a child custody case that's been going on for so long, the children are getting older, and to allow a delaying tactic like this would be extremely unjust," claimed Pitt's lawyer, Theodore Boutrous, adding, "There were no surprises. Ms. Jolie and her counsel knew about the relationship and the grounds."

Kelly Chang Rickert, a family law attorney who watched the remote hearing and appears to be unrelated to the former couple's case, shared her thoughts about the exes' custody battle with ET. She suggested that the actress may be "fighting a losing battle."

"If Ouderkirk had sided with Angelina and granted her sole custody, she would never be filing this appeal; she would not challenge his ruling as biased," she told the outlet. "The only reason she's challenging it is because she lost. I mean, she's struggling, she's reaching here."

Rickert also said that it was not unusual in "bitter custody cases" like Pitt and Jolie's for the two parties to keep fighting until the kids become adults.

"Because when the kids are grown, they're outside the jurisdiction of the courts. Right now, they're fighting because the courts can still rule on the kids. Once they're 18, they're on their own. They're adults," she explained.

Jolie's initial request to remove Ouderkirk from their custody case was denied in November 2020. In May, Pitt was granted joint custody via a tentative custody order of five of their six children — Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 14, and 12-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. Their eldest child, 19-year-old Maddox, was not subject to the decision as he is a legal adult.

Jolie previously requested that Ouderkirk be removed for allegedly not disclosing his other businesses with Pitt's lawyers.

However, Pitt's camp insisted last year that the judge "has had a well-documented history with the parties to this proceeding their counsel, including, without limitation, being hand-selected by Jolie to preside over the couple’s nuptials in 2014 and serving as a neutral in several matters involving attorneys on both sides of this case."

Ouderkirk remains the judge in their custody case as no decision has been made to remove him, ET noted.