Shannen Doherty’s Ex-Husband Kurt Iswarienko Challenges Divorce Settlement Less Than 2 Years After Her Death

Kurt Iswarienko, the ex-husband of late actor Shannen Doherty, is disputing the divorce settlement he and Doherty signed shortly before her death.

Legal filings submitted in Los Angeles Superior Court on Jan. 14 argue that the agreement was submitted in the wrong court. In the documents, Iswarienko, 51, contends the court therefore lacks jurisdiction to enforce the settlement’s terms. He also maintains that Doherty’s death should have ended the divorce proceedings entirely, and that the settlement should not have been filed at all.

The latest filing follows an earlier motion from Doherty’s attorneys and Christopher Cortazzo, trustee of the Shannen Doherty Family Trust, which said Iswarienko has not met several financial and property-related obligations laid out in the settlement.

In that earlier filing, the trust said Iswarienko was required to sell Doherty’s $1.5 million Texas home and “equally divide the net proceeds with [her] estate.” The motion claimed he “has refused to list” the Dripping Springs property for sale.

The filing also alleged that Iswarienko, a photographer, was required to buy out Doherty’s share of a Mooney M-20 airplane for $100,000 and pay the amount to her estate within five business days of the sale. Instead, the trust claimed that after selling the aircraft in August 2024, he “unilaterally withheld $50,274” and has not paid that amount.

Beyond the money issues, Doherty’s attorneys also said Iswarienko has “refused to return [Doherty’s] items of personal property,” including photographs of her—another requirement of the settlement.

In his Jan. 14 filing, Iswarienko also challenged Cortazzo’s role, arguing that Cortazzo “failed to show he has authority under the trust” to bring the motion in the first place.

Doherty filed for divorce from Iswarienko in 2023 after 11 years of marriage. Her representative Leslie Sloane said at the time: “Divorce is the last thing Shannen wanted. Unfortunately, she felt she was left with no other option.”

In December 2023, Doherty later said she learned Iswarienko had been unfaithful during their relationship—news she said came just before she underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor.

“I went in after I found out that my marriage was essentially over, that my husband had been carrying on an affair for two years,” she said on her podcast in 2023. “At the end of the day, I just felt so incredibly unloved by someone I was with for 14 years, by someone I loved with all my heart.”