Brad Pitt's Attorney Accuses Angelina Jolie of Needlessly Disclosing Personal Information
Pitt wants paperwork pertaining to the couple's custody dispute to be sealed.
— -- Brad Pitt's lawyer is accusing Angelina Jolie of needlessly disclosing personal information about the estranged couple's six children.
In paperwork filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday, Pitt's attorney Lance Spiegel wrote that the actress has ignored agreed-upon standards for acting in the children's best interest, including by revealing the names of the children's therapists in a recent court filing. The filing makes the argument that this disclosure of information is a violation of the children's privacy rights and as such, supports Pitt's request for the court to seal documents in the custody case from public view.
Spiegel claims in the new paperwork that Jolie previously agreed to keep that information confidential.
Jolie "apparently has no self-regulating mechanism to preclude sensitive information from being placed in the public record, or she has other motives pursuant to which she seeks to disseminate information in this proceeding which will be immediately made public, where the children can access it, or where people in the general public will have access to it for their own uses, and who will not use such information in the best interests of the children," Spiegel wrote.
Representatives for Pitt and Jolie had no comment.
A hearing in the case has been set for Jan. 17.
Earlier this month, a judge denied Pitt's request to seal the documents on an emergency basis. Though Pitt's attorney argued that the seal was necessary to protect the former couple's six children from "intense media coverage" and "worldwide public scrutiny," Jolie's lawyers called the filing "a thinly-veiled attempt to shield himself, rather than the minor children, from public view."
Pitt "simply appears to be trying to seal this case from the public record before he seeks visitation and/or child custody orders contrary to the minor children's therapists' recommendations and the parties' current custody/visitation order," they said in paperwork.
Pitt, 53, and Jolie, 41, were married for two years before she filed for divorce this past September. They have six children: Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10, and Knox and Vivienne, 8. ABC News confirmed that the stars have a temporary custody order in place for the children, who live with their mother. According to documents, Pitt has weekly meetings with the children, during which therapists are present. That order is in place through the end of January.