Divorce will unspool complex life Jolie and Pitt created, with six children, a charitable foundation and a fortune at stake

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This file photo provided by Universal Pictures shows Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie in a scene from the film By the Sea. Jolie has filed for divorce bringing an end to one of the world’s most watched romances. Photo: AP

Published: 1:34pm, 21 Sep 2016Updated: 9:21pm, 21 Sep 2016

For more than a decade, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been a glamorous, globe-trotting Hollywood power couple, attracting cameras to their film projects and philanthropy alike.

With six children, homes in the US and France, and the philanthropic Jolie-Pitt Foundation, the pair has much at stake. The pair became a couple in 2004 but married two years ago — which could further complicate the divorce that Jolie Pitt filed for Monday, and put the future of all they’ve shared in the hands of teams of lawyers and accountants.

Under California law, only assets acquired during their marriage must be split equally, said Los Angeles divorce attorney Peter Walzer. Forbes magazine estimates the pair earned a combined US$555 million since their relationship began, with pre-tax earnings of US$117.5 million since their 2014 marriage.

If Jolie Pitt and Pitt haven’t already spelled out who owned what prior to their marriage, a divorce judge won’t have authority to help them work it out. Jolie Pitt’s filing did not indicate whether the couple has a prenuptial agreement.

Angelina Jolie and husband Brad Pitt pose on the red carpet for the opening night of By The Sea last November in Hollywood. Photo: TNS

“The rules are really unclear when you don’t get married and you don’t have a written partnership agreement,” said Walzer, who is vice president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

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