Larry King's Wife, 'I'm Not Going to Fight a Dying Man'

Larry King's wife, Shawn, is not going to declare war on her now-estranged husband who just filed for divorce ... because she's been told by doctors he's dying.

Sources who have spoken directly with Shawn tell TMZ, Shawn has had issues with Larry for years -- and Larry with her -- but she says there's a bigger issue. Larry's been in and out of the hospital over the last 6 months, and she says doctors have told her Larry doesn't have much longer to live.

We're told Larry was at Cedars-Sinai Cardiac ICU in late April, at the same time John Singleton was in ICU. Our sources say doctors told her Larry might only have a short time to live -- they were clearly wrong. Larry was transferred to a 24-hour care facility and then went back to the hospital.

TMZ broke the story ... Larry filed for divorce Tuesday because we're told their 2 kids came to him and urged him to divorce her. A source on Shawn's side says only one of their children urged him to divorce her.

As for what triggered things ... we're told Shawn came to Larry's bedside and asked him to adjust his will/trust. Sources connected to Larry say Shawn's endgame was to get more for herself and screw the kids out of their inheritance. Sources on Shawn's side call BS, saying the estate planning lawyer told Larry and Shawn to update the docs and when she was told he had days to live she was merely following through, but in no way tried to screw over her kids.

The couple would have celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary in 2 weeks. This is his 8th marriage.