Shannen Doherty Died amid a Contentious Court Fight with Her Ex. How She Was Able to Divorce Him After Her Death (Exclusive)

The '90210' star signed documents to settle her divorce from Kurt Iswarienko the day before she died at the age of 53 on July 13

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.

During a cover interview with PEOPLE last November, Doherty opened up about being prepared for the end of her life, saying thatshe had "things very spelled out in my will."

While she had filed for divorce from Iswarienko in April 2023, their divorce proceedings had been drawn out without resolution for the last 15 or so months.

On the day before Doherty died, the star signed paperwork necessary to end the marriage; Iswarienko signed the documents on July 13.

Along with signing a filing to waive spousal support, Doherty also agreed to a "default or uncontested dissolution" of their marriage, indicating the two had mutually finalized their divorce proceedings outside of court.

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.

"This means that she was married at the time of death but because Iswarienko signed that waiver of rights, he still is going to be a widower but he can't claim any family support or allowance," says California-based estate lawyer David Esquibias, referencing probate code §141(a), which is included in the former couple's separation agreement.

"It's a waiver of property," adds fellow California estate lawyer Jonathan Forster. "He's giving up his right to receive anything under her will, and she would be giving up her right to receive anything under his will."

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 -

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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."

According to the Associated Press, a family law judge signed off on the divorce papers and entered the divorce judgement posthumously two days after Doherty's death.

While Doherty and Iswarienko ultimately waived their right to spousal support — the alleged sticking point for Iswarienko — the separation agreement finalized in the hours prior to Doherty’s passing may ultimately still benefit her.

According to legal experts, ironing out her divorce with Iswarienko prior to her death and making it clear how their assets were going to be divided prevents Iswarienko from being able to challenge her estate.

"You get comfort in knowing the finality of the agreement so that there's no misconceptions as to who's getting what," says Forster.

Esquibias and Forster say having a separation agreement in place — and one that the court has chosen to uphold in the wake of Doherty’s passing — will mean that "it would be extremely unlikely for Iswarienko to contest the will in light of a waiver of 141 rights," says Esquibias.

Forster concurs: "That code is also the right to take community property from the person's will, so he would be giving up all of his rights to take from her estate."

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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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