Brad Pitt did not file a response to Angelina Jolie’s divorce petition by the Wednesday, October 19, deadline because he feared it would be the start of a bitter legal battle that could negatively impact the children, Us Weekly can confirm.
An insider tells Us that Pitt’s decision to not file is because the estranged couple and their lawyers are working things out on their own first. Once they come to an agreement, the source says, the Allied actor, 52, will submit his response.
As TMZ first reported, Pitt wants joint legal and physical custody but is hoping to avoid starting a custody battle for the couple’s six children, Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 8. Jolie, 41, is seeking sole physical custody, according to the court documents she filed on September 19.
Earlier this week, Pitt met up with Maddox for the first time since the the Fight Club actor argued with the teen on a private jet on September 14. The Oscar winner visited with his other five children back on October 8, but as revealed in the new issue of Us Weekly, Maddox refused to see his father.
Before the reunion, a source told Us Weekly that the kids attended therapy sessions for an entire month. “[Brad] wanted to make sure the meeting would be the most productive for the kids,” a Pitt source previously told Us.