Stephen Collins' divorce trial delayed

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A trial over veteran television actor Stephen Collins' divorce was delayed Wednesday after his estranged wife's attorney, Larry Ginsberg, withdrew from the case.

Faye Grant is demanding more spousal support. She says she suffers distress from what Collins, 67, revealed in a therapy session.

Collins, a star of the hit TV show "7th Heaven," reportedly confessed to molesting multiple children in audio tapes released by TMZ.

Three years after Grant separated from Collins, another delay on the very day the divorce trial was set to begin. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon, the presiding judge over divorce cases, granted a motion by Ginsberg to withdraw from the case.

In court papers, Ginsberg said Grant was not cooperating with him, citing irremediable differences.

In the hallway, Grant said goodbye to her legal team. It's the fifth team in the case Grant has parted ways with the lawyers she hired.

"Apparently she is having problems with the evidence that she may be trying to produce, the allegations that she is making against her husband," legal analyst Barry Edwards said.

Collins was earning to $1 million to $3 million a year. When the tape was leaked, jobs evaporated.

"That was a recording that was made in a confidential therapeutic setting," said Collins' attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan.

Grant denies leaking the tape. Kaplan says they will not have to prove that she personally handed it to anyone, only that Grant had a duty as a spouse to keep the recording confidential and didn't.

Collins is now demanding $1 million from Grant for breaching her fiduciary duty and he wants to stop paying her $13,000 a month for spousal support.

"I would expect that at some point soon there will be a request, depending on how far out the actual trial date is set, to suspend that support obligation," Kaplan said.

As for any potential criminal prosecution, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department says a 44-year-old woman came forward last month saying Collins molested her when she was 13.

The decades-old molestation allegations are being investigated by authorities in Los Angeles and New York. The actor has not been charged.

Judge Mark Juhas, who was slated to preside over the trial, ordered the proceedings to be delayed until Jan. 5 to give Grant time to find a new lawyer.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.