In the final months of her life, Shannen Doherty was still battling in court with her estranged husband Kurt Iswarienko.
But just one day before she died on July 13 following a long battle with breast cancer, the beloved Beverly Hills, 90210 star ensured she would be legally single after her death.
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However, because Doherty died before a judge was able to also sign off on the judgement for marital dissolution (which makes a divorce official in California according to family law attorney Ashley Silberfeld), the divorce wouldn't technically have been considered final at the time of Doherty's passing.
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Silberfeld notes that a case like this, however, is unusual as it's not all that often that courts see divorce cases requiring a judge's signature after one party is dead.
"The general rule is when a party to a marriage dies, the marriage by operation of law is over. There is no more marriage because one of the parties is dead," she explains. "So the court doesn't even have the ability or the jurisdiction at that point to do anything in the divorce case... but here, if they've already submitted the judgment and the only reason why it wasn't entered was because the court hadn't processed it yet, then I think Shannen's estate would have a very strong argument, and the court may just do it anyway."
Silberfeld concurs: "It's a very ministerial process at that point. If they've met all of the procedural requirements, submitted all of the appropriate paperwork, the judgment is going to get entered."
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"It's interesting and very sad," says Silberfeld of the case particulars, "but [Doherty] fought the good fight."
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"Shannen Doherty Died amid a Contentious Court Fight with Her Ex. How She Was Able to Divorce Him After Her Death," by Alex Ross was published in People on July 19, 2024.
