http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

The couple has two daughters, Katherine, 23, and Emily, 17, which means Danza waited just long enough to file so that he does not have to pay child support or deal with a custody battle. Even on the March 4 2011-filed court papers he checked “there are no minor children.”

Assuming CredoVie‘s theory is correct about the timing of Danza’s divorce filing, this is actually a very smart move on Danza’s part. By not filing for the divorce in 2006 when they first separated, the couple avoided what could have been a media frenzy over a custody battle or amount of child support.  But filing now as Emily is about to turn 18, the divorce probably will not remain in the media spotlight very long…..although 24 years is quite a long-term marriage for Hollywood. The big winner here is Emily, who seems to have been close to her dad, who she’s done a duet with, as she was spared a battle that could have played out in the media. (Think Alec Baldwin and his troubles with his teen-age daughter after his split from Kim Bassinger).

The 60-year-old Danza, whose personal blog says he just finished putting his undergraduate “history education” degree to use by teaching 10th grade English in Philadelphia, also has another daughter and a 40-year-old son from his first marriage to Rhonda Yeoman. They married in 1970 and divorced four years later.  — Credovie.

Charlie Sheen wants his kids to live real close by?

Charlie Sheen wants two of his ex-wives to move into his gated Los Angeles community, and he is willing to foot the bill for the house and the moving expenses so that he can live closer to his four children, reports AOL Real Estate.

Experts say it is good for the kids if divorce parents live within close proximity of each other, but only if they can all get along. “They must have resolved their anger, internal pain, hurt, and practice forgiveness for and with each other,” says Dr. Joyce Morley.

Just how would one describe Charlie Sheen’s relationship with exes Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller?

Well, Sheen did spend Christmas 2009 in behind bars after Mueller reported him to Aspen authorities for choking her and threatening her with a knife. The star of “Two and a Half Men” was arrested on domestic abuse charges. He filed for divorce about a year later, but Reuters reports it will not become final until May.

However, some reports cite that recently estranged wife Mueller has been seen visiting Sheen at his home while he was participating in in-home rehab at his Mulholland Estate after an alleged week-long cocaine binge sent him to the hospital. Richards was also seen at the home.

It would appear that these women still care about Sheen’s well-being, even if for the sake of their children.  But do they care enough to let him buy them houses up the road?  Well, if they do, there are several things the ex-wives will want to arrange if they accept his house proposal, family law attorney Roberta Stanley of Brinkley Morgan in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. told AOL Real Estate.

Any other woman in this predicament should follow the same advice, which includes:

• Draw up the deal in a contract
• Make a plan for who covers maintenance and home repairs (if the ex has a greater income, like Sheen, that person should be the majority)
• Appoint a neutral third-party to approve or reject payment of expenses
• Determine who will have ownership of the home
• Decide what happens to the home when the kids are grown

Read more in “Charlie Sheen Wants to Buy Homes for Two Ex-Wives” and see photos of Sheen’s and Mueller’s former marital home, which is now on the market for sale.

Buying a home from a divorcing couple can have its advantages and disadvantages.

Imagine putting an offer in on your dream home only to attend the pre-inspection walk-through to learn that a bitter, divorcing husband flooded the house the night before by leaving all of the faucets running. That actually happened with a New York home where the husband just didn’t want the wife to have money from the home sale proceeds.

We always hope that when we have an accepted offer on a home that we will actually close, but there can be hiccups along the way due to the family dynamics of the sellers. And when divorce is involved, fingers crossed that you’ll even get an accepted offer.

Read what the experts have to say about buying a divorce home.

There are many reasons people sell their homes, and sometimes divorce is one of them.  Buying a “divorce” home can have its ups and downs. Some buyers speak of getting great deals on the price or even the household furnishings because a spouse just wants to dump what reminds them of their ex so they can move on with their lives, but some other buyers find some divorcing couples can’t even agree on what price to sell the home for and the deal to buy their dream home can, well, be washed down the drain in an instant.

In the AOL Real Estate article “Buying a ‘Divorce Home Has Its Perks,” experts outline five tips to help a home buyer determine how to figure out if the sellers are divorcing and how to possibly relieve stress on your end if you find you put in an offer with a feuding couple.

Some of the tips: The closet reveals a lot, and so do the neighbors, but if you put in an offer anyway, expect delays. Just know how to put the power in your own hands. Read the AOL piece here.

What are some of the horror stories you’ve experienced with selling a divorce home or buying one?

Victoria, Dennis and Marin Hopper in 2008

Dennis Hopper, who passed  away in May at age 74, was in the middle of divorce proceedings when he died of prostate cancer complications. Now apparently his adult off-spring from other marriages aren’t so happy that they have to share estate proceeds with the widow, Victoria Duffy, and the couple’s 7-year-old daughter Galen, reports HousingWatch.

This might seem like another Hollywood celebrity tale, but there’s a lesson every family can learn from the Hopper family struggles, whether you earn millions a year or just thousands. 

Hopper, who filed for divorce from his 43-year-old wife in January less than three months after he received the terminal diagnosis, wanted her and the daughter cut from the will. The pre-nup would’ve taken care of that for Duffy even without the divorce being finalized since there was a clause that limited what she’d receive if they were not still living together at the time of his death.

Whether or not they were is up for debate among the heirs. Duffy, who was living on a separate property on the Venice estate claims they were. The adult offspring, spearheaded by daughter Marin, say no way. And since the divorce was still pending, they fight over who gets what art work, who pays for horse feed, and who gets to sell the house or live in it.

Experts say the Hopper family is a prime example of why you should get your affairs in order — even a divorce, if that’s what you want — before you’re nearing your death bed.

“Unresolved divorces can spill over into a fight among heirs,” says Andrew Mayoras, co-author of “Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights!“

“When fights are ugly like this it is about emotions,” he told HousingWatch. “If you let your emotions control you, the only ones who will win are the attorneys. You have to put your estate planning in place to help prevent fights like this.”

For more, read “Dennis Hopper Heirs Sell to Give Widow Hell” at HousingWatch.

— Sheree R. Curry

Shawn, 50, is asking for sole physical custody and joint legal custody of the couple’s two sons, Chance, 11, and Cannon, 9, while Larry wants joint across the board. He also wants Shawn to pay his legal fees (can’t blame the guy for asking).

Shawn is also seeking to maintain ownership of three of the couple’s homes. Apparently Larry, 76, transferred ownership of some property to her to prove his love and devotion to her after he was caught cheating with none other than Shaun’s sister, Shannon Engemann, according to HousingWatch.  The sister denies the accusation.

The couple is fighting over the properties, which are located Beverly Hills, one in Provo, Utah, and a house in St. George, Utah.

Stein, in a lawsuit filed in Cook County, is demanding that his former son-in-law, Stephen C. Levy, reimburse him for the $75,000 dad paid toward Levy’s wedding to his daughter. In addition, he wants $1 million for the emotional pain he suffered when he learned Levy cheated on his daughter and gave her an STD before their December 2009 divorce. 

In his suit, Stein says that at the time of the July 2008 wedding, Levy “promised and agreed” to care for and protect his daughter, but instead engaged in “vexing, harassing and annoying” behavior by allegedly having unprotected sexual activity in various sex clubs around the country, and thus wasn’t faithful to his marital promises. As a result, Stein says Levy committed fraud and breached a verbal contract the two men had stemming from when Stein agreed to pay for the couple’s wedding in exchange for Levy’s oral agreement that he would remain sexually faithful to his new bride “throughout their lives.” The marriage ended 17 months later.

Onpointnews.com hashes out Stein’s legal case, particularly the applicability of the statute of frauds. — SHEREE R. CURRY

COMMENTARY: Illinois is a no-fault divorce state. That means that one doesn’t need to air the dirty laundry of a spouse’s past just to get the divorce, and as far as CredoVie is concerned, it doesn’t mean the father-in-law gets to collect on the son-in-law’s actions during the marriage either.  This is clearly a case of the father-in-law just trying to cause a man grief. Think of the time and money it would cost Levy just to go to court to protect himself? Stein might not even care if he collects on the suit, but would just take pleasure in wreaking havoc in this man’s life.   If any thing, as an attorney, Stein would know their alleged verbal contract really isn’t worth the paper it is written on. Levy could easily argue that the $75,000 was Stein’s gift to his daughter. If he truly meant it to be repaid should the marriage fail, he should’ve put it in writing.  Assuming the families are Jewish, Stein might have better luck having his daughter seek damages based on whether or not Levy lived up to his obligations in their Ketubah, a Jewish marriage contract. Others before have sued in American court to uphold the obligations in the ketubah contract, arguing that it is essentially a pre-nup saying what would happen in the case of a divorce. Maybe the Steins could get Levy to pay his ex-wife a goat and 100 zuzim.  But in terms of the fraud case, it doesn’t look good for Stein, who is representing himself. Then again, he is a lawyer and Levy is not.What does hold well for Stein? All the publicity is sure to give him a boost to prospective clients. CV

“Focus on you, because you can’t change anyone else.”

“Beauty pageants have been stuck in the past,” said Liz Fuller, a former winner who purchased the pageant in August 2009 (She was a co-owner in 2005 – 2006). Previously the pageants “were run by men, and their rules were to fulfill the typical male fantasy that beautiful young girls had to be virginal,” she said.

On the pageant’s website, she says, “Accepting single mothers is one of our revolutionary changes. There are about quarter of a million single mums who are under the age of 25 in the UK, and we want to give them every opportunity to succeed in life especially in the showbiz, modelling and entertainment arena.”

Taking advantage of the new regulations is the above-pictured Rachel Hatton, a 27-year-old mom who was married for three years until her 2007 divorce. On her profile page for the contest the blonde, blue-eyed professional hair extension stylist says that she has served five years in the British army as a “model soldier” and now wants to fulfill her dream as a “beauty ambassador.”

Another participant is 22-year-old single mom Charlotte Campbell, who has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and is a trained pole dancer. — SHEREE R. CURRY

COMMENTARY: Even though Great Britain has entered the 21st Century with this move, it is a move that comes more than a decade after the U.S. pageant, but at a notch above what Miss America originally announced.  In 1999 Miss America lifted its ban on divorced women and those who have had abortions. Entrants simply signed a document stating, “I am unmarried” and “I am not pregnant and I am not the natural or adoptive parent of any child.”  However, women who had children who were still alive were not eligible.  I guess they were afraid if the entrant won, Mommy wouldn’t be a good role model. CV

Taylor is the queen of divorces—eight in all when you count her two divorces from Richard Burton. But there is a good chance that the talk of marriage number nine  stems from someone’s desire to spread publicity about her lust for a big screen comeback.  While other sources say that even if she did marry Winters, the marriage would be a sham.

Dame Elizabeth Taylor has had her share of husbands. She has married seven men in her lifetime, but has been single since her 1996 divorce from construction worker Larry Fortensky.  See CredoVie’s Liz Taylor Marriage-Divorce timeline.

Although she has vowed she’d never marry again, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t have male companionship.  She has been seen for the last three years or so at public events with Winters, a top talent management exec, who could easily have a spot on the Black Enterprise Top 50 Hollywood Power Brokers list.

According to Us Weekly Magazine:

In 2007, British papers reported that Taylor and Winters took a romantic vacation together at a Hawaiian resort. Taylor spent “the evening caressing the face of [Winters],” reported the Evening Standard. At the time, the paper quoted a source as saying: “She didn’t think she’d fall in love again, but since Jason came into her life that has all changed.”

The screen legend has also gushed about Winters to gossip columnist Liz Smith, describing him as “one of the most wonderful men I’ve ever known, that’s why I love him.” He even reportedly bought a house for them.

When she was asked in 2007 about whether or not she’ll ever remarry.  She gave a screeching howl of a no, that reporters will not-soon forget.   Hear it here on YouTube.

After all, some of those in the know, say that Winters is a gay man who has been in a long-term relationship with his business partner Erik Sterling, according to Gather.com.

If Winters is a shrewd talent manager, it would make sense that he would plant the marriage story in the hopes of landing his client the gig she seeks.  According to the Daily Mail, Taylor, who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of osteoporosis and the curvature of her spine, has even been lowered into a tank to go swimming with sharks, as a way to gain attention.