Brad Pitt May Lose Visitation Rights If Found Verbally Abusive Towards Any Of 6 Kids, Says Report
Brad Pitt may not have been physically abusive to 15-year-old son, Maddox, as no concrete evidence yet was found by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) during its original phase of fact-finding investigation.
However, this does not prevent the agency from imposing any penalty if there is substantial proof to support it. Even verbal abuse could be a ground for losing visitation rights, a report says. Within the ambit of the "verbal abuse" are instances such as would cause emotional harm in a child or would even put a child at risk of being in emotional anguish. Beatrice Fung, a specialist in children's legal rights and welfare and at the same time, a family lawyer, shared her legal expertise on this matter.
"If the DCFS concluded that Brad Pitt was in fact verbally abusive towards any of the children and that verbal abuse caused any of the children emotional harm or place any of the children at risk of suffering emotional harm, then DCFS can potentially intervene by extending the current temporary arrangement or agreement for a longer period of time, or file a petition with the juvenile dependency court," the lawyer was quoted by Hollywood Life.
Actress Angelina Jolie, who filed for divorce against husband Brad Pitt on September 14, is currently vested with physical custody right of their six children. She prayed for the divorce court to grant her sole physical custody of the kids and joint legal custody with estranged husband. Such prayer may be granted following Pitt's failure to file his answer.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and DCFS had performed separate probe into the altercation incident involving the two actors and son Maddox. Pending the investigation, the DCFS issued a safety plan until October 20, but which was later on extended as it expanded its investigation into Pitt's probability of being historically abusive in any manner towards any of the six children.
