Is social networking bad for your marriage?

Perhaps. According to Divorce-Online, 1 in 5 divorce papers reference Facebook.

Check out this CNN video.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

According to a Fox News report, a California man found himself severely injured after he burned his divorce papers – starting a house fire at his home in Sacramento.

The man was living with his father at the time, and the fire damaged the two-story duplex where they lived. The man was found in an upstairs bedroom unconscious, suffering from smoke inhalation injuries.

The man’s father told Sacramento firefighters that his son had been lighting things on fire all night the previous night.

Two cats were found dead in the home – smoke inhalation killed them. The name of the man who burned the divorce papers and started the house fire has not been released.

He is still in serious condition at a local hospital.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

Facebook can be a place where you see some things you may not want to see about the ones you care about, but according to some unofficial research from a law firm in the United Kingdom, it may actually be leading some couples to divorce.

Facebook allows couples to see potentially flirty messages from other people on their spouses’ walls and pages, according to the UK’s Telegraph. The paper reported that some relationships were even being ended actually via the social networking site.

One divorce-specialized British law firm reported that one in every five divorce cases they review sites Facebook as a factor in the divorce.

While there is no concrete evidence to support the fact that Facebook might be increasing the divorce rate, based on the reach and capabilities of the site, it isn’t surprising that it might be the reason some relationships are ending.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

The 2000s have been a decade full of divorce news – with plenty of scandal and drama to go around. Total Divorce has chosen 10 celebrity couples who have ended their marriages – the ones we feel are the most memorable of the decade.

Did we miss one? Tell us which celebrity divorce of the ’00s was the most memorable for you. Leave a comment below!

• Bruce Willis & Demi Moore, Oct. 2000: This Hollywood couple was married for 13 years before their divorce was final in 2000. According to Britain’s Daily Mail, the couple remains one of the happiest divorces in Hollywood. The couple split in 1998, but the divorce wasn’t official until 2000. They have three daughters, and the two remain good friends and parents.
• Nicole Kidman & Tom Cruise, Aug. 2001: After more than 10 years of marriage, Cruise filed for divorce in Jan. 2001, having just renewed marriage vows a month earlier, according to ABC News. Kidman was later quoted saying she believes Cruise found a deeper love with Katie Holmes as she had found with Keith Urban.
• Harrison Ford, Jan. 2004: The Indiana Jones star was married to screenwriter Melissa Mathison for 18 years, but the couple separated in 2001. Ford dated Calista Flockhart for two years before the divorce was finalized in 2004.
• Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt, Aug. 2005: The couple met in 1998 and married in 2000 in an elaborate $1 million wedding. Pitt was accused of having an affair with Angelina Jolie, though he never acknowledged the rumors as being true, according to ABC News. In 2005, the couple filed for divorce, and a few months after it was final, Pitt and Jolie started dating.
• Jessica Simpson & Nick Lachey, Dec. 2005: This pop-star couple married in 2002, and starred in the MTV reality series “Newlyweds,” a career move that helped them both immensely, according to MTV News. Citing ‘irreconcilable differences,’ the couple split in Nov. 2005 and filed divorce a month later.
• Paul McCartney, May 2006: The former Beatle married Heather Mills in 2002, and after four years of marriage, the couple together decided to divorce, stating that they still care about each other very much, according to Britain’s Daily Mail. Mills offered to sign a prenup, but McCartney refused, so the divorce could have cost him about £200 million.
• Britney Spears, Nov. 2006: The pop star’s marriage to dancer/rapper Kevin Federline ended in 2006 when Spears filed for divorce in California. This was a high-drama case because of the couple’s two sons and the amount of public knowledge about their marriage, according to NBC News.
• Michael Jordan, Dec. 2006: The NBA All-Star married his wife Juanita in 1989, and after 17 years of marriage, they mutually agreed it was time to end it. Jordan’s divorce isn’t necessarily memorable because of any scandal – but according to Forbes.com, it was the most expensive divorce, costing Jordan $150 million.
• Jon & Kate, June 2009: The Gosselins have been all over the news in the past six months – closing the decade with a bang as far as celebrity divorce is concerned. The reality TV couple decided to end their 10-year marriage after a scandal involving Jon surfaced, according to People Magazine. Their eight kids will remain a huge part of both their lives.
• Tiger Woods, Nov. 2009: While no official divorce papers have been filed, after his admittance to infidelity and his fight with his wife, Elin Nordegren, it seems filing for divorce may be the next step for the well-known pro golfer.

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Since the high-profile professional golfer was caught cheating on his wife earlier this fall, there has been a question as to whether Tiger Woods will face divorce.

According to People Magazine, Woods’ net worth totals more than $600 million. So what, exactly, would a divorce mean for Tiger?

Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, have two young children together – Sam, who is two years old, and Charlie, who is just 10 months.

Not only will the couple have to deal with child custody issues in the event of a divorce, but also a division of assets. People Magazine reported that the couple had a prenuptial agreement drawn up before their 2004 marriage – but prenups don’t always hold up in court.

According to Scott Altman, a family law professor at the University of Southern California, when huge wealth is involved in a divorce case, typically the spouse who makes the money gets to keep it; however, in the case that the other spouse has become used to a certain luxury lifestyle, the bread-winning spouse may be ordered by court to help maintain such a lifestyle.

Nothing is yet official in Tiger Woods’ potential divorce case, but if Nordegren does serve Woods with divorce papers, the assets the couple has may not necessarily be distributed equally – but fairly.

Altman said that Woods’ infidelity should have nothing to do with a prenuptial agreement, and despite his admittance of infidelity, a divorce between the couple should proceed as it would under any other circumstances.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

South Carolina’s first lady, Jenny Sanford, filed for divorce last week after Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to an affair with a woman in Argentina back in June, the New York Times reported.

The couple has been separated since this summer – shortly after Gov. Sanford admitted the affair. The Sanfords attempted to reconcile the marriage; however, Ms. Sanford said that the efforts were not successful. She wishes to keep the divorce process as painless as possible for herself, her husband and their four sons.

The governor said that divorce is not the route he thought the couple would be forced to take, but since that is what it has come to, he does accept full responsibility for what he calls the “moral failure” that led to divorce.

Because of his actions, Gov. Sanford has had to deal with ethical violation charges, he’s been asked to resign and there has been talk of impeachment.

Last week, it was decided not to recommend impeachment, so the governor will finish his term. His wife has already endorsed another candidate for the next gubernatorial race – State Representative Nikki Haley – the only female in the race.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

According to a New York Times article, no matter how you break it down, money-related issues increase the chance of a marriage ending in divorce.

New research from Utah State University shows that couples who reported arguing about finances at least once a week have a 30 percent higher chance of filing divorce.

When couples were asked about finance issues and sexual issues in their marriage, women reported both to cause disagreements, but financial arguments were better at predicting whether the marriage would end in divorce. For men, financial arguments were the only ones that seemed to lead to divorce, according to the New York Times article.

Before getting married, there are some things couples should talk about – including finances. Below is a list of premarital discussion topics recommended by the New York Times:

• Individual financial past – how have you historically handled money?
• Who will be in control of joint finances in the marriage – who pays the bills?
• Credit history – do you have a good credit score? Have you always?
• How important is money – how rich do you want/hope to become?

To help avoid potentially fatal (for the marriage) disagreements – have these important discussions with your partner before you tie the knot – it could help keep your marriage alive later.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

If state legislators feel comfortable banning gay marriage, they might as well ban divorce too, right?

Such is the opinion of one California resident – 38-year-old married father of two, John Marcotte – who has proposed the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act.

The initiative, which boasts the subtitle “Safeguarding marriage from the evils of divorce,” started as a kind of satire on the passage of California’s Proposition 8 – the legislation banning gay marriage in the state.

The 2010 California Marriage Protection Act has gained some momentum, however, and has garnered support from activist groups and individuals.

Gay marriage was outlawed in 2008 based on the stance that it is necessary to “protect the sanctity of traditional marriage,” according to an Associated Press report.

Marcotte argues that if California voters are so adamant about protecting traditional marriage, they should have no problem outlawing divorce – the ultimate breach of traditional marriage vows.

In order to make the ballot in 2010, Marcotte has to collect close to 700,000 signatures by mid-March. According to the Associated Press, even if the legislation makes the ballot, there’s no telling how voters would respond to it.

Feelings about the 2010 Marriage Protection Act are mixed. One resident argues that everyone wants to see fewer divorces – of course – but to make divorce illegal is simply impractical.

One gay rights group says they support Marcotte’s efforts, but have no plans to partner with him.

Some of Marcotte’s petition signers said they signed because of a real interest in preserving marriages. One man, who signed in support of his lesbian sister, said he doubts the initiative will pass, and if it did, “there’s something really wrong with America.”

If something like this ever did pass, there would be hoards of angry divorce lawyers around.

For more information, visit the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act Web site.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

While it’s becoming more common across the globe to hear that one in every two marriages will end in divorce, that may not be the case in Canada.

The statement that half of all marriages end in divorce is incorrect, according to an article on Canada.com, due to several factors.

The current U.S. divorce rate is 44 percent, according to the article, and Canada’s is lower.

A new report by the Vanier Institute of the Family sheds some light on the institution of marriage in Canada.

According to the survey, it is not true that half of Canadian marriages end in divorce – the actual figure is closer to 38 percent.

Factors that contribute to inaccuracies include misunderstandings about how divorce rates are determined.

Additionally, the divorce rate in the 1980s truly was very high, and did in fact hit the point in which half of all marriages ended in divorce.

In Canada, 1987 was the peak year for divorce rates with 362 divorces per100,000 people. This number fell in the 1990s. Now, there are about 221 divorces per 100,000 people in Canada.

The typical marriage that results in a divorce lasted 14 ½ years in 2005. This represents a 1.7 percent per year increase on the average from a decade previous.

The figures could have been influenced by cultural changes. For example, fewer couples may marry while cohabitating, and therefore when they split it isn’t recorded.

According to this data, the 50 percent divorce figure is not necessarily accurate, and coupled with other surveys, the data helps to prove the misconception.

“What we’re not talking about is the impact of parent conflict after the divorce and while they’re separated,” said Anne-Marie Ambert,.an emeritus sociology professor at Toronto’s York University.

Ambert went on to explain that while most children of divorce don’t suffer any severe developmental disorders, there can be a heightened risk of anxiety, depression, poor performance in school, relationship problems and other behavioral issues among kids of divorce.

“It’s what happens after [the divorce],” said Ambert, “when the parents bicker over everything, over every cent, over every visit, and the kids are placed in the middle of that — that is bound to be very bad.”

Research indicates that about 30 percent of children born in Canada after 1984 will see their parents divorce or separate by the time they are age 15.

Despite the prevalence of divorce in Canadian teens’ lives, a mere 40 percent of them approve of divorce and 88 percent believe that they will stay with the same partner for life, according to the surveys and studies by Professor Reginald Bibby of Alberta’s University of Lethbridge.

Bibby believes that the children and teens who experience divorce are all the more determined to avoid that fate themselves.

“What I do hear a lot of parents say,” said child counselor Alyna Reesor “is that they really want to try everything before they make the decision to leave a marriage.”

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.

According to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau, child support is paid in less that half of all cases where it is owed.

In a difficult economy with more and more people having financial problems, the issue of child support comes to the forefront, as single parents work hard to stay afloat.

Some noncustodial parents in tough financial straits are seeking reductions in child support as a means of relief, and others simply don’t make payments, all while many single parents below the poverty line depend on child support for nearly half of their income.

Highlighting the crucial role that child support plays in the lives of separated parents, the U.S. Census Bureau recently released a report detailing the findings of a survey conducted in 2008 that focused on child support and child custody issues among parents.

According to the report, in 2008 there were 13.7 million parents in the United States who had custody of 21.8 million children under 21, while the other parent lived somewhere else. Of those 13.7 million parents, 7.4 million had a child support agreement or court order in place to receive monetary help from the noncustodial parent who lived somewhere else.

Mothers with child custody historically have a higher percentage of formal child support terms in place than fathers with custody, and the data from 2008 supports that trend.

The custodial parent with primary care-giving duties was most often the mother rather than the father, at a rate of about 83 percent.

The age of custodial mothers has increased since the last survey in 1994, as has the level of education of mothers on the whole. Custodial mothers were also more likely to be caring for more than one child than fathers who had primary custody.

About one quarter of custodial parents were below the poverty level in 2008. This represents an improvement over figures collected in 1993, but there has not been improvement in the percentage since 2001.

Employment rates among custodial parents have been rising as well, and rates of public assistance have been falling.

Of those parents who were under the poverty level, payments from child support represented almost half of that parent’s average income, which indicates that for the most needy, child support was of crucial financial importance.

In 2008, a total of $34.1 billion in child support was due as per formal agreements and court-ordered terms. Of that amount, only about 63 percent of it was reported as received by the custodial parent, averaging out to about $3,350 per parent who was owed support.

In 2007, about three-quarters of custodial parents who were owed support received some payment, while a little less than half of those owed received the full amount that they were due. The remaining 30 percent received some of the total amount due to them.

Monetary payments are not the only type of child support that was provided for custodial parents. Over half of custodial parents received support from the non-custodial parent in the form of noncash support, like groceries, diapers, birthday and holiday gifts, medical expenses, and child care.

Among mothers, according to the report, one third of those who had custody of their children were never married. Almost half of those mothers were currently single due todivorce or separation. 1.7 percent of the mothers were widowed.

Copyright © 2010 TotalDivorce, LLC. (as licensee). All rights reserved.