Millions are at stake and reputations are on the line, but now Charlie Sheen and estranged wife Denise Richards are facing the most troubling issue of their divorce: custody of their young daughter Sam and unborn baby.

Celebrity attorney Lynn Soodik, who represented Meg Ryan in her split from Dennis Quaid, is now representing Denise, who is asking for full legal and physical custody of both kids.

"It's really not what's best for the parents, but what's best for this child," Soodik insisted to us. "She wants to have the sole decision-making power regarding her children, such as a change in their religion, a change in their schools, whether they should have certain medical treatments."

But those terms don't work for Charlie. "Extra" was the first to show you his request for joint custody, but Soodik says he'll have to prove himself in court.

"If Charlie is seeking joint physical custody, he is going to have to prove it would be in the best interests of the minor children to have that type of arrangement," Soodik explained.

People magazine Editor Jess Cagle told us there's still hope the case will never make it to a judge. "I know she has told one friend that she really doesn't want to cut him out of the kids' lives," Cagle revealed.

And the biggest question still remains unanswered: "People on her side say he went back to his old ways, but there doesn't really seem to be a lot of evidence of that," Cagle told us.

Today only one thing seems certain -- both Charlie and Denise are ready to be parents for life.