It’s been almost two years since Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie filed for divorce. However, there’s still a custody battle over the couple’s six children.  Last week, the court intervened and required Jolie to give Pitt and their children more access to each other. 

According to family law attorney, David Glass, who weighed in on the case, it “is extremely rare” for a court to intervene like this. However, it can occur if the court discovers that alienation, rather than estrangement, is the problem.

When it comes to estrangement, children no longer wish to see a parent if he or she is unkind or abusive to them. In this case, the court doesn’t encourage children to have access to this parent.

But it appears that in the Jolie-Pitt case, alienation is a concern. Alienation is when one parent tells the children that the other parent doesn’t love or care about them. Or, that he or she is a bad person.

According to last week’s court order, Jolie must inform her children that the “court has determined that not having a relationship with their father is harmful to them.” What’s more, she is to tell her kids that they are “safe with their father” and that’s it’s “critical” to have a relationship with each parent.  

While Jolie holds primary custody of their minor children, this may change, according to the judge, who warned the actress stating, “If the minor children remain closed down to their father and depending on the circumstances surrounding this condition, it may result in a reduction of the time they spend with [Jolie] and may result in the Court ordering primery physical custody to [Pitt}.”