Shannon Price was by Gary Coleman's side at a Utah hospital on Friday, when she authorized doctors to take him off of life support. Since Coleman's death that day, she has been making arrangements for his funeral. Yet despite what Price told the hospital, she and Coleman divorced almost two years ago — calling into question her authority to make a decision to "pull the plug."
Coleman, 42, and Price, 24, were legally divorced in August 2008, Coleman's lawyer tells UsMagazine.com. "I was the attorney" for the divorce proceedings, Randy Kester tells Us. "Out of a respect for Gary's privacy, up until it became public, I didn't want to say anything." (Entertainment Tonight unearthed the divorce papers on Wednesday)
"Their relationship has been on-again, off-again," Kester says. "I know that there were periods of time where she resided in the home with Gary, and there were periods of time where she didn't."
Perhaps the reconciled couple secretly remarried? "No one's given me any evidence that they remarried," Kester notes. "It would have been a very simple thing to do. So I have to wonder about why he didn't remarry."
The couple met in 2006 on the set of the film Church Ball, and wed in 2007. They appeared on a 2008 episode of Divorce Court in an effort to save their marriage.
This surprising new revelation also leaves Coleman's estate unsettled, Kester says. Coleman's estranged parents Sue and Willie Coleman may "file a probate action which will ask the court to make a determination as to who [Gary's] heirs are," Kester adds.
Complicating matters even more? "No one's come forward with what appears to be a valid will," Kester reveals. "No one's come forward with anything that would indicate that his parents would not end up being his heirs."
Kester muses that his late client and friend would be "sad that there’s all this controversy swirling around his death. It was certainly unexpected. For all the things he went through–he went through some tough times, legally, medically, socially– to have him be taken by a little slip and fall—it's just devastating."
