Lawyers for “7th Heaven” actor Stephen Collins and his ex-wife, Faye Grant, met in a judge’s courtroom today to try to finalize a settlement in the former couple’s marital split.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Juhas said he would be available to both sides to help during the negotiations. He excluded the public from the courtroom as the talks began.
Both Collins and Grant were in court today with their lawyers.
Collins’ lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, said there are two main points he wanted resolved before he would consider accepting any final judgment. He did not elaborate.
Kaplan said last week that he wants to have Collins, 67, awarded the original and any copies of the telephone recording that Grant made in which the actor acknowledged to a therapist in 2012 that he had sexual contact with underage girls. Grant’s lawyer, Kristina Royce, said her client was not responsible for the recording being made public.
Collins has confessed to having sexual contact with three girls 20, 32 and 40 years ago.
“Forty years ago, I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret,” he told People magazine last month. “I have been working to atone for it ever since. I’ve decided to address these issues publicly because two months ago, various news organizations published a recording made by my then- wife, Faye Grant, during a confidential marriage therapy session in January 2012.”
If no settlement, the case will go to trial as scheduled Feb. 9, Juhas said.