Jax Taylor wants his split from Brittany Cartwright to be official, even if the rest of their divorce is still unresolved. The Vanderpump Rules alum, 47, has asked a judge to declare him legally single while he and Cartwright continue working through financial, property and support issues.
According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Taylor's lawyer filed the request on Tuesday, October 13, asking for a bifurcated judgment on marital status only. The filing argues that the marriage is clearly beyond repair and that no one benefits from keeping the parties bound to one another as husband and wife, adding that Taylor would like the freedom to move forward with his life as a single person and presumably Cartwright would want the same.
The filing also points to how long the case has dragged on, noting that nearly two years have passed since the case began with minimal progress and no set trial date, leaving Taylor with no clear path toward resolution and a justified desire to seek an alternate route to divorce. His lawyer argued that Taylor is well within his rights to seek an immediate dissolution of marital status.
Cartwright filed for divorce in August 2024, and the split has been one of reality television's messiest. The former couple reached an agreement on custody and child support earlier this year, but their marriage remains legally unresolved. The latest move follows a turbulent stretch involving restraining orders: Cartwright was granted one against Taylor last month, after which he filed for one of his own.
The bifurcated-judgment request is a common maneuver in drawn-out California divorces, allowing the parties to be declared single while the thornier questions of money and property are litigated separately. Whether the judge grants it, and how quickly, will determine whether Taylor rings in the new year as a legally single man. Either way, the filing is another sign that the once-celebrated reality TV romance has fully curdled into a courtroom war of attrition.
Taylor and Cartwright were mainstays of the Bravo reality universe, first on Vanderpump Rules and later on The Valley, and their relationship played out in front of cameras for years before it collapsed. The dueling restraining orders and the stalled property division have kept them in the tabloids long after the cameras stopped being the point. Legal experts say bifurcated judgments are routinely granted when a marriage is clearly over, so Taylor's request is likely to succeed even as the financial fight drags on behind it.