In the fall of 1999, Divorce Court was reimagined with real couples who had actually filed for divorce. Instead of having student attorneys argue the cases, each person in the real divorce presented their case. And the judge was a real judge with the cases being presided over by Judge Mablean Deloris Ephriam.
For seven seasons, she would decide in favor of one of the litigants, and would make rulings on things from asset division to alimony and her decisions were legally binding.
In 2006, Judge Mablean left the show, reportedly due to contract negotiations but she also accused the show of racism, claiming she was fired because FOX had issues with how she styled her hair.
“When will FOX and the rest of America accept our cultural differences as African Americans and embrace us with all of our different hairstyles, hair textures, hair color…” she said in a “press conference statement” at the time.
Judge Mablean was replaced by Judge Lynn Toler, a former judge from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, who took over mid-season on Sept. 11, 2006.
Source : https://www.distractify.com/p/what-happened-to-judge-lynn-toler