Brangelina Update: Could Brad & Angelina Settle Everything Out Of Court? [VIDEO]
Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt a month ago, but the latter has yet to formally respond to to her claim.
Plenty of splashy headlines were made this week about Pitt not filing a legal response to Jolie's divorce petition, suggesting Pitt wasn't willing to accept it. But a legal expert is now stating that Pitt's lack of legal response by this past Wednesday's deadline isn't cause for concern.
"It doesn't matter. These things go slowly," legal expert Troy Slaten told E! News this week. "I'm sure his attorneys are communicating with Angelina's attorneys and there's nothing he has to file unless he wants to start taking depositions and things like that. He doesn't need to file."
It's possible that Pitt and Jolie could settle the entire divorce and custody proceedings out of court, especially if their decisions are amicable.
"If they settle out of court, then we may never know what they agreed on," Slaten noted. "You don't have to have a custody dispute. You can get a divorce and not even bring up what's going to happen with the children if they agree. The court doesn't have to decide those things. If you're not fighting about it, there is nothing for the judge to decide. [He or she] will sign off on the final decree of divorce."
The temporary custody agreement, which saw Jolie keeping the kids in her custody with Pitt able to visit with a supervising therapist (plus drug testing for Pitt), ended on Oct. 20, but it's possible that the couple could continue moving forward with this arrangement.
"If Brad and Angelina agree on whatever it is-keeping things where they are right now, keeping the kids where they're living right now, keeping Brad on his random [drug] testing schedule, keeping all of them on their therapy schedules -- then if that's what they agree on for now, then that's the way it will be," Slaten said.
Both Pitt and Jolie have remained relatively silent publicly over the past month.
