Angelina Jolie‘s quest to completely extricate herself from ex-husband Brad Pitt‘s life has hit another snag. E! News has obtained legal documents that show that Jolie’s attorneys requested that any Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders (ATROs) be lifted to allow Jolie to sell Nouvel, LLC, which she separately acquired before her marriage, allowing her to sell her shares of Chateau Miraval estate in France and the winery in SNC Miraval Provence. Jolie’s Nouvel company and Pitt’s Mondo Bongo LLC are equal shareholders in a Luxembourg company that has ownership interests in these entities, and Jolie wants out.
According to Jolie’s lawyers, “the parties’ divorce altered the parties’ ability to work together as business partners,” and plans for Jolie to sell her shares to Pitt directly fell apart after two years. Allegedly, the couple couldn’t agree on the price of the buyout and non-compete and non-disparagement arrangements. Jolie then explored third-party offers, and her lawyer said in the documents that the “sale opportunity” only “arose only after lengthy and unsuccessful negotiations by [Jolie] to extricate herself from being a disregarded business partner with her ex-husband.”
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Unfortunately for Jolie, “the Buyer may pull out of the sale unless [Jolie] immediately signs an Exclusivity Agreement to sell Nouvel,” which is why she needs the restraining order lifted. “Unless the ATROs are immediately lifted with respect to the proposed sale of [Jolie’s] membership interest in Nouvel, LLC… the third-party buyer will not be bound to go forward with the sale and [Jolie] will be at [Pitt’s] mercy to control the terms of any disposition of her separate property until such time as this matter comes to trial on the remaining financial issues,” Jolie’s lawyers argued.
The Miraval estate also has sentimental value to the former couple, as it was the location of their wedding in 2014. They split in 2016, and Pitt recently won joint custody of the couple’s children, three of whom wanted to testify against him according to documents uncovered in June. US Weekly reported that the documents were filed in December 2020 and does not disclose which children wanted to testify. The former couple, who divorced in 2019, share six children — Maddox, 19, Pax, 17, Zahara, 16, Shiloh, 15, and twins Knox and Vivienne, 12.
“The children whose custody is at issue are old enough to understand what is going on,” the document reads. “The trial is necessarily going to impact them emotionally. Three of the children have asked to testify. To make any of the children endure what may be a futile and void proceeding is beyond unjustified. It is cruel.” According to Us Weekly, the document was from Jolie’s appeal to have Judge John Ouderkerk removed from the case because of his alleged connections to Pitt’s legal team,” claiming that Ouderkerk had “ongoing business and professional relationships” with Pitt’s lawyers and should therefore be disqualified. Her request was eventually denied and Ouderkerk remained on the case.
