Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s child custody hearing to commence, these are his demands

Brad Pitt will demand 50-50 custody of his children in court proceedings expected to begin on Monday. The actor, who separated from wife Angelina Jolie in 2016, has been involved in a tumultuous custody battle since then.

According to a new report, while Pitt has no doubts about Jolie’s love for the kids, he feels compelled to take the legal route after recent setbacks in his demand for equal custody. The couple has six children -- Maddox, Pax, Shiloh, Zahara, Vivienne and Knox.

“Brad is asking for 50/50 custody to be put in place and stay in place,” a source told ETOnline. “Angelina wants to be fair when it comes to custody. She is very structured with the children. Brad has high hopes [they can] try to make it work because of the importance of co-parenting.”

The former couple had reached an agreement in 2018, but that fell apart. In recent months, Jolie has filed a complaint about the private judge overseeing the proceedings, claiming that he had a conflict of interest because of financial links to Pitt’s attorneys.

The source continued, “Brad, for the most part, has been respectful of Angelina’s parenting. While he doesn’t agree with everything, he knows she loves the kids and wants the best for them. He also knows his love and presence are needed.” The source said that Pitt has ‘done everything he can to avoid a court situation’, but is ‘left with no other choice’. Another source said, “No one wants this case over more than Angelina.”

Pitt was spotted at Jolie’s house on several occasions in August, just before their relationship was said to have soured again, when Jolie asked for the judge overseeing the divorce proceedings to be removed, citing a conflict of interest. US Weekly quoted a source as saying that Pitt wasn’t pleased with this, especially after the couple had been on their way to amicably resolving their years-long custody battle. “Brad says Angelina has gone way too far this time...He’s left with no other option but to dig in and fight back—hard,” the source said.

Also read: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s custody battle turns messy again after she suspects ‘something untoward’ happening

The judge, in court documents obtained by ET, denied the claims and said he has no personal bias or prejudice concerning any party‚ attorney or any other person participating in this case.

Follow @htshowbiz for more