On her 18th birthday back in May of this year, Shiloh Jolie filed the legal papers to drop “Pitt” from her surname. We soon learned, via People Magazine, that Shiloh made the decision herself and she went out and hired a lawyer on her own accord and wanted to file the name-change papers on her 18th birthday, perhaps as a gift to herself on the first day of her legal adulthood. Shortly after that, “sources close to Brad Pitt” threw a tantrum about Shiloh’s name change, and those “sources” showed exactly why Shiloh did it with this quote: “He’s aware and upset that Shiloh dropped his last name. He’s never felt more joy than when she was born. He always wanted a daughter.” He already had a daughter when Shiloh was born: Zahara was more than a year old when Shiloh was born. Of course, we’ve also heard that the other kids have dropped “Pitt” from their surname, but it’s done informally, at college and on playbills. By all accounts, Shiloh is the only one to change her legal name thus far. Well, here’s an update:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s daughter, Shiloh, is taking the next step to ditch her dad’s last name — all so a judge can speed things up and make it all official.

Shiloh — who just recently turned 18 — recently took out an ad in the L.A. Times newspaper to announce she’d filed a petition to drop “Pitt” from her surname — which is a standard legality before the court green lights a name change.

Shiloh filed to change her name from Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt to Shiloh Nouvel Jolie, per the newspaper notice. It also states anyone who has objections to the petition should show up in court later this month. Otherwise, she’s going forward with her plan.

[From TMZ]

Apparently, this is some kind of quirk of California law, you have to put a public notice in the newspaper when you’re about to change your legal name. Basically, Shiloh is just following her lawyer’s advice. What happens if Brad Pitt shows up at the hearing and throws a tantrum in person? Not much. People Mag spoke to a family law attorney about this:

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt’s public name change announcement in a newspaper “could not have been avoided” for the process to move forward, a legal expert tells PEOPLE. According to California-based family law attorney David Glass, the 18-year-old’s petition to drop “Pitt” from her last name — which was recently published in The Los Angeles Times — follows legal regulations that such filings must be printed in a newspaper before the official name-change process can move forward to its next steps.

“In reality, it could not have been avoided,” Glass tells PEOPLE. “… She has to file a formal petition with the court to change her name. And she has to run an ad 4 weeks in a row before the hearing is scheduled, in addition to giving both of her parents written notification.”

“These name change petitions usually run very smoothly and are granted, unless the person has a criminal history and is trying to get away from punishment or liabilities,” he continues.

Glass adds, “I’ve never seen one opposed in court. Brad could come to court and say, for example, that Shiloh has been alienated against him by the mother. … But because she is no longer a minor, she can essentially call herself whatever she wants.”

[From People]

“But because she is no longer a minor…” That’s why she waited until her 18th birthday too, so that there wouldn’t be some commotion in family court with Brad dragging her mother into some bullsh-t again. Something I’ve been wondering is whether there was some coordination among the kids and it was decided by all of them that Shiloh should be the first one to go through the legal process. I know Zahara, Maddox and Pax want nothing to do with Brad and I’m sure they don’t use his name at all, but what if they believed (correctly) that it would be more of a statement if Shiloh was the first one to go through the legal name-change route?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.