Had Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt divorced in Palm Beach County instead of Los Angeles, the case would almost certainly have moved faster, played out more publicly, and been shaped by different rules on parenting time, alimony, and their French winery. Their split took more than eight years to settle, and a related business lawsuit over Château Miraval is still headed for trial. That makes it a useful case study for South Florida families with significant assets, children and a business they built together.

This post walks through the major legal issues in the Jolie–Pitt dispute and explains how Florida law would treat each one. It is commentary on publicly reported events, not a view on either party’s conduct; many of the facts below are allegations that were disputed and never decided by a court.

The couple’s legal fight has two tracks: the divorce itself, which settled at the end of 2024, and a business lawsuit over Château Miraval that is still pending in California.

Date	Event
2026	Miraval case in heavy discovery; Pitt seeks Jolie’s film earnings (Express Tribune); a Los Angeles judge denies a Pitt discovery motion without prejudice (Rova/Cover Media); parties dispute an early-2027 vs. late-2027 trial date (IBTimes)
Dec 2024	Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott J. Nord approves the property and custody settlement; both waive future spousal support (AP via The Daily Record)
2022	Pitt sues Jolie in California, alleging she sold her Miraval stake to Tenute del Mondo (Stoli Group) despite an agreement requiring mutual consent (The Vibes/AFP); Jolie’s former company later countersues for $250 million (Wine Spectator)
2021	A privately hired judge awards equal custody; a California appeals court removes him over an undisclosed conflict, vacating the ruling
2019	Court declares the couple legally single, leaving property and custody unresolved
Sept 2016	Jolie files for divorce after a private-jet flight on which she alleged Pitt was abusive; the FBI and child-welfare officials investigate, and no charges are filed (AP via KSAT)
2014	The couple marries at Miraval
2008	Pitt and Jolie buy a controlling stake in Château Miraval in Provence

Four of the six children reached adulthood while the case dragged on; by the December 2024 settlement, only the twins Knox and Vivienne were minors. Pitt has denied abusing his children, and he was investigated and cleared by child-welfare authorities (Dubai Eye/Reuters).

The single biggest procedural difference is that a Florida “private judge” cannot decide custody. Jolie and Pitt used California’s private-judging system, which kept most details out of public view and produced a 2021 equal-custody ruling that was later thrown out.

Florida has a similar tool, called voluntary trial resolution. Under Section 44.104, Florida Statutes, parties can agree to have a Florida Bar member in good standing for more than five years decide their dispute. But subsection (14) states that it does not apply to disputes over child custody, visitation, or child support. Those issues stay with a Palm Beach County circuit judge.

What that means in practice:

• Property and money issues could go to a privately paid trial resolution judge or binding arbitration, keeping hearings off the public docket.
• Parenting and time-sharing would be decided in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit’s family division, in a public courtroom, unless the parents agreed on a parenting plan through mediation.
• Delay through bifurcation would be harder. Florida courts generally disfavor granting a divorce while leaving property and children’s issues for later, so the three-year gap between Jolie and Pitt’s 2019 “status only” divorce and their 2024 settlement would be unusual here.

For high-profile clients in Palm Beach, Jupiter or Boca Raton, the practical path to privacy is confidential mediation and a negotiated parenting plan, not a private judge. The Marital Settlement Agreement can include privacy provisions so it does not have to be filed with the court. However, a Parenting Plan and Child Support Guidelines must be filed.

In Florida, the equal-custody result that the couple’s private judge reached in 2021 would not be an outlier; it would be the legal starting point. Since 2023, Section 61.13(2)(c)1, Florida Statutes, creates a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in a child’s best interests. The parent seeking more than 50% must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that equal time-sharing is not in the child’s best interests.

Florida also no longer uses the word “custody.” A Palm Beach County judge would approve a parenting plan that sets a time-sharing schedule and assigns decision-making, with shared parental responsibility as the default. The judge must weigh the best-interest factors in Section 61.13(3) and make written findings. Several of those factors map directly onto the Jolie–Pitt dispute:

Factor	Section 61.13(3)	Why it would matter here
Facilitating a close relationship with the other parent	(a)	Each side accused the other of damaging the children’s bond with them
Mental and physical health of the parents	(g)	Pitt has publicly discussed past alcohol use and his sobriety
Reasonable preference of the child	(i)	Several children were teenagers capable of expressing a view
Domestic violence or child abuse evidence	(m)	The 2016 flight allegations, even without criminal charges
Shielding the child from the litigation	(r)	A heavily publicized case with filings discussed in the press

A child’s preference in Florida is one factor, not a veto, and the judge decides how much weight it gets based on the child’s maturity. Florida judges generally prefer to hear it through a guardian ad litem, a psychologist, or an interview in chambers rather than courtroom testimony.

Timing also matters. Florida’s family court generally loses authority over time-sharing when a child turns 18. With only the twins still minors at the 2024 settlement, and both now at or near adulthood, the eight-year delay meant much of the custody fight was resolved by the calendar rather than by a court. Child support follows a similar clock under Section 61.13(1)(a)1.a: it ends at 18 unless the child is still in high school and expected to graduate before 19.

Florida judges must consider evidence of domestic violence or child abuse in a parenting case even when no one was charged. No charges were filed after the 2016 flight, and Pitt denies the allegations. In Florida, that would affect which rules apply, but not whether the evidence is heard.

• No automatic presumption. Under Section 61.13(2)(c)3, a first-degree misdemeanor or higher domestic violence conviction creates a rebuttable presumption that shared parental responsibility is detrimental. Without a conviction, that presumption would not apply.
• Evidence still counts. The same subsection says that, with or without a conviction or injunction, the court must treat evidence of domestic violence or child abuse as evidence of detriment to the child. Under factor (m), a judge who accepts such evidence must acknowledge in writing that it was considered.
• False allegations count too. Factor (n) lets the court weigh evidence that a parent knowingly gave false information about abuse. Both parents’ credibility is on the line.
• Protective injunctions are separate. A parent can seek an injunction for protection against domestic violence in a separate proceeding, and its terms can override parts of a parenting plan.

The NDA dispute would also look different. Jolie has said that Pitt sought a broad nondisclosure agreement as a condition of buying her share of Miraval, which she argued was meant to silence abuse claims (AP via WSLS). Pitt’s side has disputed that characterization. In Florida, parents can agree to keep financial information private, but any agreement touching the children is subject to the court’s independent review of their best interests. A confidentiality clause cannot stop a judge, guardian ad litem or evaluator from examining safety concerns.

Under Florida’s equitable distribution statute, Miraval’s purchase price would likely be nonmarital, while some of its growth during the marriage could be marital. That is because the couple bought their stake in 2008, six years before they married in 2014.

Here is how a Palm Beach County judge would sort it under Section 61.075:

1. Classification. Assets owned before the marriage are nonmarital. Each spouse’s premarital share of Miraval would start out as their own.
2. Enhancement. Any increase in value during the marriage caused by either spouse’s efforts, or by marital money, is marital. Pitt’s lawsuit claims he poured money and “sweat equity” into the wine business while Jolie stopped contributing (The Vibes/AFP). In Florida, that evidence would cut both ways, because Pitt’s own efforts during the marriage could make part of the appreciation marital.
3. Cutoff date. The marital window closes on the earliest of a valid separation agreement or the filing date. Jolie filed in September 2016, so only about two years of growth (2014 to 2016) would be in play.
4. Valuation. Since July 1, 2024, a closely held business interest is valued at fair market value, and enterprise goodwill is marital. For a celebrity-branded wine, the line between enterprise goodwill and personal goodwill tied to a famous name would be contested; we discuss that issue in Is a Celebrity’s Name Marital Property in a Florida Divorce?
5. Equal split, with adjustments. Florida presumes an equal division of the marital portion. The desirability of keeping a business intact is a listed factor, which often leads to one spouse keeping the company and buying out the other.

The consent dispute is a different matter. Pitt’s claim that Jolie sold to Tenute del Mondo without his approval is a contract and business-tort case, not a property-division question. In Florida, it would likely be litigated in the civil division of circuit court, and because the buyer is a third party, Section 44.104(14) would bar sending it to a private trial resolution judge without that party’s agreement. A Florida family judge also cannot directly transfer title to land in France; the court can order the spouses themselves to sign documents, but enforcement abroad depends on foreign law.

The current fight over Jolie’s film earnings shows how financial discovery spreads in these cases (Express Tribune). In a Florida divorce, both spouses must exchange financial affidavits and supporting records up front under Family Law Rule 12.285, which narrows these battles; our post on discovery in a Florida divorce explains the process.

Under Florida law, Jolie and Pitt’s marriage would barely qualify for any alimony beyond short-term support. They waived future spousal support in their 2024 settlement, but Florida’s statute would have pointed them in the same direction.

Section 61.08, rewritten in 2023, measures a marriage from the wedding date to the date the divorce petition is filed. The couple married in August 2014, and Jolie filed in September 2016, a marriage of about two years.

Alimony type	Florida limit	Available to a 2-year marriage?
Temporary	Only while the case is pending	Yes, if need and ability to pay are shown
Bridge-the-gap	Up to 2 years; not modifiable	Yes
Rehabilitative	Up to 5 years; requires a specific plan	Yes, in theory
Durational	Barred for marriages under 3 years; otherwise capped at 50% / 60% / 75% of the marriage’s length and 35% of the net-income gap	No
Permanent	Eliminated in 2023	No

Every alimony claim in Florida also starts with proof of actual need and the other spouse’s ability to pay. Two spouses with independent multimillion-dollar careers would struggle to show need. The court may still consider adultery and its economic impact, and the new rules apply to any initial petition pending or filed on or after July 1, 2023. For more, see our guide to Florida Statute 61.08 in a Palm Beach County divorce or try the Florida Durational Alimony Calculator.

Child support is different: it belongs to the children and cannot be waived by the parents. In a high-income Florida case, support is set under the guidelines in Section 61.30, and the parties’ wealth and the children’s established standard of living often drive the result. The Florida Child Support Calculator gives a starting estimate.

The Jolie–Pitt case shows that, in a high-asset divorce, the business and the children can take years longer than the divorce itself. Families in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Jupiter, Wellington, Palm Beach Gardens and Boca Raton can take several steps to avoid that outcome:

• Put co-ownership terms in writing. If you and your spouse own a business together, a shareholder or operating agreement with buy-sell terms, consent rights, and a valuation method avoids a Miraval-style dispute.
• Use a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement. A Florida prenuptial agreement can classify premarital business interests and their growth in advance.
• Plan for privacy realistically. Florida does not allow private judges to decide parenting issues, so confidential mediation and a negotiated parenting plan are the main tools for keeping children’s matters out of a public courtroom.
• Expect the 50/50 presumption. A parent seeking more than equal time-sharing must come to court prepared with evidence on the Section 61.13(3) factors.
• Do not wait. Children age out of custody disputes, witnesses become unavailable, and evidence fades. Delay rarely helps anyone.

If you are facing a divorce involving a family business, significant assets or a contested parenting plan, contact the Law Offices of James S. Cunha, P.A. at (561) 429-3924 to schedule a confidential consultation. Our office at 250 S. Australian Avenue, Suite 1402, West Palm Beach, is minutes from the Palm Beach County Main Courthouse, and we represent clients throughout Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

This article discusses publicly reported events and general principles of Florida law for informational purposes only. It does not express an opinion on the truth of any allegation, is not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change, and every case depends on its facts.