Legal battle between former couple There has been a new twist in the dispute between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt regarding Chateau Miraval. In a significant court victory for Angelina, a judge has ruled that she will not be required to hand over private emails linked to the sale of her stake in a French winery, a blow to Brad in their long-running dispute.
Angelina Jolie wins big
According to PageSix, on Monday a A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled that Brad, 62, can’t force Angelina, 50, to hand over a series of private emails related to the sale of his stake in a French winery, at odds with Angelina’s claim that the communications are secure, according to court documents.
The judge denied Brad’s motion, ruling that he “has not met his burden” to disprove his claim that he is safe. The motion was “denied without prejudice”, meaning Brad could raise the issue again at a later date.
The development follows an earlier ruling from December 2025, when a judge had directed Angelina to hand over the e-mails. That decision was later found to be flawed, forcing the High Court to send the case back for reconsideration.
Angelina’s lawyer in the case, Paul Murphy, reacted to the decision through a statement, saying, “This is an important victory for Ms. Jolie. The decision shows that Mr. Pitt was completely out of bounds when he sought access to clearly privileged documents.”
“Remember, they initially demanded 126 privileged documents, but then dropped back to 22, and now Mr. Pitt is getting nothing, zero. “This is part of Mr. Pitt’s pattern of demanding control over anything Angelina does, including control over her communications with her own lawyers,” the statement said. “We are extremely gratified that both the Court of Appeals and the trial court ultimately stayed this.”
The decision marks the latest twist in Brad’s long-running effort to access certain communications related to Angelina’s 2021 sale, including messages from his business team, which he has argued are not protected by attorney-client privilege.
On October 29, 2025, Brad’s legal team presented evidentiary communications from Angelina’s team regarding the 2021 sale of their stake in the French winery.
One exhibit was a November 2023 email in which Angelina’s lawyers responded to Brad’s lawsuit, which reportedly sought millions in damages. However, Angelina said they were part of a legal strategy and therefore she is privileged.
What do we know about the feud
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie first met and fell in love on the set of the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith. They married in 2014 at his French estate, Château Miraval. However, their marriage ultimately ended in divorce.
Despite spending ten years of their lives together, the former couple were only married for two years. In 2016, the Maleficent star filed for divorce. The Oscar-winning actors finalized their divorce in December 2024.
Although they have put their divorce behind them, the legal battle is yet to be resolved. There is a lot of dispute going on between the two regarding the French winery Chateau Miraval.
Brad first filed the lawsuit in 2022, claiming that his ex-wife sold her share of the winery despite a prior agreement that no one would sell it unless the other approved. Since then he is stuck in a legal battle.