The fracture inside one of Hollywood’s most famous families is playing out in the courtroom once again. According to court documents originally obtained by TMZ on Thursday, 24-year-old Maddox Jolie-Pitt has formally filed a petition to drop his father’s surname. He is requesting a judge legally recognize him as Maddox Chivan Jolie.
The request is currently awaiting final judicial approval, but the legal maneuver follows a trail of breadcrumbs left earlier this year. During his recent stint as an assistant director on his mother Angelina Jolie’s film Couture—which hit French cinemas in February—he was credited strictly as Maddox Jolie. Now, he wants the state to permanently document the change.
Maddox is the fourth of the six children to actively distance himself from Brad Pitt’s last name. His sister Shiloh legally changed her name to Shiloh Jolie when she turned 18 in May 2024. Zahara introduced herself without the Pitt surname at her Spelman College graduation, and Vivienne opted for “Vivienne Jolie” for her Broadway production work on The Outsiders.
This latest legal move traces back to the initial 2016 family rift when Angelina Jolie filed for divorce following an alleged physical altercation aboard a private plane involving Pitt and the children. The couple’s divorce was finalized in 2024 after years of intense custody disputes and a highly publicized fight over their shared French winery, Château Miraval.
A spokesperson for Brad Pitt told reporters they would not comment on the legal filing. However, sources close to the actor expressed frustration over the ongoing situation to reporters, calling the move a textbook example of Jolie allegedly pushing Pitt away from the children.