Two of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s children have cleared a key legal hurdle in their bid to strip their father’s surname, publishing formal notices in a Los Angeles newspaper that make their long-hinted intentions a matter of public record. Court documents show that Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt, 21, and Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt, 24, each ran petitions in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, a required step under California law before a judge can approve a name change.
The filings reduce the family name to a single word for two of the couple’s six children. Zahara’s petition seeks to change her legal name from Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt to Zahara Marley Jolie. Maddox, the eldest of the siblings, is asking to become Maddox Chivan Jolie.
California requires anyone seeking a legal name change to publish an Order to Show Cause for four consecutive weeks before a scheduled court date, giving anyone with an objection a window to respond in writing. Zahara’s notice ran in four consecutive editions published on June 16, June 23, June 30, and July 7. Maddox’s petition appeared in the same publication on June 10, June 17, June 24 and July 1. If no one files an opposition, a judge can grant each request.
Two Court Dates on the Calendar
Both siblings now have hearings set for the fall. Maddox is due in court September 14, and Zahara has a hearing scheduled for September 28, when a judge can rule on her motion. Maddox filed his petition in May, listing his reason simply as “personal.” Zahara followed with her own filing in June.
Actor Brad Pitt, 62, does not intend to fight either request, according to sources who say he respects his children’s decisions. That posture stands in contrast to the acrimony that has defined much of the family’s public life since actress Angelina Jolie, 51, filed for divorce in 2016. The split dragged on for eight years before it was finalized in 2024, following an airplane incident and allegations of abuse that Pitt has never admitted. Authorities declined to file charges against him, and he was exonerated following a review by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
A Long, Quiet Distancing
The newspaper notices formalize a break that has been building for years. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, now 20, became the first of the children to drop her father’s last name, doing so on her 18th birthday in 2024. That same year, while Pitt retained visitation arrangements with his younger children, he had essentially no relationship with the adult members of his family. Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, 17, appeared as “Vivienne Jolie” in the playbill for Broadway’s “The Outsiders” in 2024.
Zahara had already been signaling her intentions. She omitted “Pitt” when joining her sorority at Atlanta’s Spelman College in 2023, and she was introduced as Zahara Marley Jolie when she accepted her diploma at the school’s graduation this year. Maddox began going by “Maddox Jolie” in February, when he appeared that way in the credits of his mother’s latest film. Among the six children — Maddox, Pax Jolie-Pitt, 22; Zahara, Shiloh, and 17-year-old twins Knox Jolie-Pitt and Vivienne — only Pax and Knox still use the original hyphenated surname.
Pitt has been conspicuously absent from family milestones. He has not been photographed with any of his children since the divorce that Jolie initiated in 2016.
Competing Narratives About the Rift
The two camps offer sharply different accounts of how the relationships deteriorated. The children still struggle to forgive Pitt over what they witnessed during their parents’ marriage, and some feel that Jolie built a supportive home and helped them launch their careers in ways their father did not. Sources close to Pitt reject that framing, arguing instead that Jolie excluded him from key conversations and waged a years-long effort to damage his bond with the children.
One person close to the actor told TMZ that they believe Angelina caused the rift and that the name changes are the latest chapter in a campaign to alienate the children from their father. Sources say Pitt feels the years of conflict have left his children casting him as the villain, even as he continues to hope they will one day welcome him back.
Overlaying the personal fracture is an ongoing legal battle over Château Miraval, the French winery where the couple married in 2014. Some of the children reportedly believe the dispute has hurt their mother, while another source has framed Pitt’s challenge to the sale as an effort to protect their future inheritance.
For her part, Jolie has grown more open about the toll of the years-long fight. She has credited her children with helping her recover, saying her fighting spirit was taken down for a time but is now returning in large part because of her older children encouraging it. Whether the September hearings quietly finalize the name changes or draw renewed attention to a family that has spent nearly a decade in the spotlight, the petitions leave little doubt about where two of Pitt’s children stand.