Brad Pitt family news has moved into a formal legal stage: Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt filed documents in April to remove Pitt from their surnames. The two now have September court appearances ahead of them, where a judge is due to decide whether the changes go through.
April filings by Zahara and Maddox
The filings put two of the family’s children into the same legal process at once, with Zahara aged 21 and Maddox 24. In June and July, both published their name-change intention in a local paper for four weeks, which is the kind of procedural step that turns a private choice into a public record before a court can act.
Zahara had already used the surname Jolie during her graduation ceremony earlier this year, and Maddox used Jolie in his film credits. Shiloh changed her surname to Jolie in 2024, so the April filings fit a pattern rather than a one-off break.
Leonard-Ripley in California
Hannah in California shows how surname changes can be both practical and personal. She legally changed her surname to Leonard-Ripley last month after being known by two surnames for more than a decade. Hannah said she last saw her dad seven years ago and was not sure where he is living now.
“I've never felt like my last name reflected the love that encompasses my life,” she said. “And I wanted to make sure that my name reflected that. My mother's love and also my husband's love are very abundant and so important to me.”
Pitt, Jolie, and the fallout
Jolie met Pitt on the set of Mr and Mrs Smith in 2005, married him in 2014, and filed for divorce in 2016 after an incident on board a private plane. In 2020, she told Vogue that she had left Pitt for the “wellbeing” of her family. Those dates matter because they mark the legal and personal split that sits behind the children’s current filings.
A source close to Pitt told News that he was heartbroken, regretted how things had unfolded with his family, and still respected his children's decisions. That combination is the hardest part of the story: the paperwork is moving forward even as the emotional break remains unresolved.
The September hearings are the point to watch. If the judge grants approval, Zahara and Maddox will move from public intention to legal reality, and the surname shift will stand alongside the 2024 change made by Shiloh.
