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Robert Irwin\u2019<\/a>s headline-making run<\/a> on Dancing With the Stars<\/a><\/em> Season 34 comes a decade after older sister Bindi Irwin waltzed to victory in the ABC<\/a> show\u2019s 21st season \u2014 and a decade after a bizarre court case nearly took the elder Irwin out of the competition.<\/p>\n On November 5, 2015, which is 10 years ago now, a Superior Court of Los Angeles judge rejected Bindi\u2019s contract for a lack of proof that her and Robert\u2019s father, the zookeeper Steve Irwin<\/a> a.k.a. TV\u2019s \u201cCrocodile Hunter,\u201d was actually dead.<\/p>\n Of course, it was worldwide news when Steve died in 2006 at age 44 after being barbed by a stingray off Australia\u2019s northeast coast. Steve was snorkeling at Batt Reef near Port Douglas, Queensland, when a stingray attacked him, its barb puncturing his heart and lungs, and Irwin was pronounced dead shortly thereafter, per People<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI have the best daddy in the whole world, and I will miss him every day,\u201d Bindi said at his memorial service, held at the family\u2019s Australia Zoo in Queensland two weeks later, per The Guardian<\/a><\/em>. \u201cWhen I see a crocodile, I will always think of him, and I know that daddy made this zoo so everyone could come and learn to love all the animals. I don\u2019t want daddy\u2019s passion to ever end \u2014 I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did.\u201d<\/p>\n So why was Steve\u2019s death a matter of contention in Bindi\u2019s Dancing With the Stars<\/em> run? And given all the press coverage around that family tragedy, was a judge really not aware that Steve had died?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how it went down: On November 5, 2015, TMZ<\/a> reported that an L.A. Superior Court judge had rejected Bindi\u2019s DWTS<\/em> contract, which producers had submitted for review. Forbes<\/a><\/em> noted at the time that unemancipated minors can\u2019t sign a contract themselves in most states, and that California, in particular, requires minors\u2019 contracts to be approved by a court. Parents who want their children\u2019s earnings staying with their children, as Terri did, can sign a quitclaim to waive any rights to the money, as Terri did, according to Forbes<\/em>.<\/p>\n Bindi\u2019s DWTS<\/em> contract said Bindi was guaranteed base pay of $125,000, plus $10,000 per week if she got to third and fourth weeks, $15,000 for the fifth week, $20,000 a week for sixth and seventh weeks, $30,000 a week for the eighth and ninth weeks, and $50,000 per week for the 10th and 11th weeks, per TMZ. At the time of the legal hitch, Bindi had already earned $230,000, and she would eventually earn the maximum $360,000.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a standard contract for the show,\u201d Entertainment Tonight<\/a><\/em>\u2019s Cameron Mathison, who competed in DWTS<\/em> Season 5, explained. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s the same deal I got when I was on the show.\u201d<\/p>\n Terri Irwin, Bindi and Robert\u2019s mother and Steve\u2019s widow, signed away her rights to Bindi\u2019s potential winnings, but the L.A. Superior Court judge wanted assurances Steve had no rights to the money either, TMZ reported.<\/p>\n \u201cPetitioner has failed to show that the minor\u2019s father has irrevocably and perpetually released, relinquished, and quitclaimed to the minor any interest he may have to the minor\u2019s earnings under the contract,\u201d court documents read, per Entertainment Tonight<\/em>. \u201cWithout a showing that the minor is entitled to her earnings under the contract, the court is unable to find that it is in the best interest of the minor to be bound by the terms of the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n In an explainer about the legal obstacle, though, Snopes<\/a> pointed out the judge wasn\u2019t necessarily insensitive to the Irwin family or ignorant about pop culture headlines so much as bound by stringent contract laws. As the site explained, contract law in California protects minors working in entertainment with a high standard of proof. In Bindi\u2019s case, that standard of proof likely required a death certificate and not, say, a media report, Snopes noted.<\/p>\n <\/a> See Bindi Irwin Crash Robert Irwin and Witney Carson’s ‘DWTS’ Rehearsal (PHOTOS)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Related<\/p>\n And until that proof was provided, Bindi was blocked from participating in Season 21, according to Time<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Dancing With the Stars<\/em>\u2019 lawyers must have cut through the red tape quickly, though, since Bindi stayed in the competition, and she and pro partner Derek Hough<\/a> ended up winning the season late that month. And when TMZ<\/a> caught up with the teen at LAX several days later, Bindi said the contract issue had been sorted. \u201cWe\u2019re all good,\u201d she said. \u201cYeah, we\u2019re all happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Bindi said that she\u2019d lose some of the winnings to taxes, she revealed the rest would go to a good cause.<\/p>\n \u201cWe donate everything back to wildlife conservation, so everything I make goes straight back to wildlife conservation,\u201d she told TMZ. \u201cSo, it\u2019s wonderful. It\u2019s who we are and what we love to do.\u201d<\/p>\nSee Bindi Irwin Crash Robert Irwin and Witney Carson’s ‘DWTS’ Rehearsal (PHOTOS)<\/a><\/h3>\n