Most of the time when you think about the way a divorce impacts kids, you think about young children who aren't emotionally mature enough to deal with what's happening. Well, it's not just younger kids who have that problem. College students whose parents get divorced may be able to handle things on the surface. But it's a strain on their emotions nonetheless.

I read a piece in the student newspaper from California State University-Chico that really shed some light on the subject. And it's a poignant subject for this time of year as college students get ready to come home for the holidays. A lot of them have two homes to go to. Balancing time with both parents can be a struggle, particularly if the divorce happened while the student was away at school.

One student quoted in the piece talked about making a trip home while her father was moving out of the house because she wanted to see his bags packed so the divorce would become real to her. She didn't want to come home for the holidays and find her father completely gone from the house. It lessened the blow for her to see it while it was happening.

Of course, all of the same rules about parenting through a divorce still apply to college kids. You can't expect them to take sides. And I think you have to be realistic about how much time they have for you and your ex. Remember what it was like to be in college. You're starting out your life, making your own decisions, budgeting your own time. And with your family split up, it becomes a bigger challenge. It takes patience and understanding on all sides.

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Thumbs up to Gannett News Service for a nice, long, comprehensive point-by-point breakdown of all the financial matters you need to think about when you go through a divorce.

With the number of divorces there are in the United States, every media outlet in the country could do this story once a month and it still probably wouldn't be enough. There are so many things to remember, and considering it's the worst time in your life, you're bound to overlook some of them.

Long story short, getting divorced is like getting ready to buy a house. Just make off that you're about to go through a loan application. Take stock of all your assets. One tip that jumped out at me was to think about assets that might not typically be on the top of your head, like frequent flyer miles and store reward club memberships. These things may seem insignificant in the grand scheme, but they should be considered and divided up nonetheless.

Another thing lots of people forget is the need to update wills and change beneficiary information. This one is particularly easy to overlook because for at a lot of us, that involves an appointment with a lawyer or financial advisor — and that's just one more thing you have to make time for.

One expert Gannett talked to says one of the key mistakes people make is trying to hold on to their house at all costs. You may get the house, but that means you also get the mortgage and property taxes and upkeep of the house all to yourself. Can you afford that? If you're staying in the house for the benefit of your kids, so they won't have to move and change schools, you should be entitled to more spousal support so you can afford everything you need.

There's lots more in this article — it's a must-read if you're going through a divorce.

The Vienna divorce fair we’ve written about here at FWW got going this week, and to say the least it sounds like a pretty interesting affair.

In addition to lawyers and private investigators on hand looking for business, a couple’s therapist and the Roman Catholic Church also have booths at the event. The church, of course, is opposed to divorce, so that makes their presence pretty interesting. One of the things I wondered about this event was how people were going to manage to discuss their situations with exhibitors in a crowded room. They’ve solved that problem by having private rooms available.

All in all, it seems like a pretty cool idea, though let’s not lose sight of the fact that the whole thing is a business venture. The guy running the show also promotes wedding fairs and he realized the opportunity for a divorce fair by looking at the numbers. According to statistics cited in a Bloomberg report on the fair, divorce has risen by 20 percent in Austria over the past two decades, and two-thirds of the marriages in Vienna end in divorce.

There are plans for more of these divorce fairs in Germany and London. Keep an eye out, because as many divorces as we have here in the U.S., it’s only a matter of time before these shows are happening here too.

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Later this month in Austria, they’re going to have what is being called the world’s first divorce fair. The event will bring together all sorts of resources to help people navigate their way through the end of a marriage -- everything from legal information and tips for spying on your cheating spouse to advice on how to help children deal with what’s happening.

Provided that this doesn’t just turn into a way for money-grubbing attorneys to drum up more business, I think it’s a great idea. As prevalent as divorce is in the U.S., it seems like it’s only a matter of time before events like this one take place here.

The only drawback I can see is that it could be rather awkward to walk up to someone at a booth in a crowded convention hall and start asking for advice or talking about your own situation. Divorce is such a personal thing, it seems like the dynamic of the interactions at an event like this might be a bit stilted. Still, it’s an interesting and worthwhile-sounding concept.

One rather ironic thing, though. The organizer of this event also organizes wedding fairs. Isn’t that versatile?

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Divorce is not a simple process for anyone, but it can take a really long time if you're rich. That's pretty much the main point to pull out of the latest story on pro golfer Greg Norman's divorce.

Now, we've written about this before. But just in case you're new to the story, Greg and his ex-wife Laura Theresa Andrassy are scheduled for another hearing in early November. They're still haggling over who will end up with the tax liability for one of their jets. Yes, that's jets, plural.

And then Laura's attorneys are going to try to make Greg pay her more money because he's been dragging his feet on coughing up the cash he's supposed to give her. As if he's really going to notice it when he finally does pay her. Let's be honest, though. Laura hasn't exactly been destitute, unless you ignore the $725,000 Greg gave her that she and her attorneys burned as they worked out the details of the settlement.

One day I hope I have money problems like these.

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Here’s another story that shows things aren’t always so rosy in religious families. We’ve written a couple of times about the mis-matched ministers, Juanita Bynum and Thomas Weeks.

Well, here’s a story out of Alabama about a pastor whose wife walked out on him and their two kids six months ago. Actually, according to a report in the Mobile Press-Register, Beth Smith is still seeing her children on a regular basis, and sources say she is a good mother.

But in March, she hocked her wedding ring while attending a religious convention in Louisiana and bought a bus ticket to New York without telling her family anything. To say the least, details like that make her sound unstable. She was living in a women’s shelter in New York when authorities finally located her in July and brought her back to Alabama.

Her husband, Rev. Jason Lee Smith, has filed for divorce and it seeking custody of the kids, who are 10 and 7. Beth Smith’s attorney said there was conflict in the marriage and that the couple had grown apart. And he talked about the toll that keeping up appearances can take when you’re married to a religious leader. Indeed, if you start to question the life you’re living, that’s a difficult place to be. But walking out on your family? She’s going to have a tough time explaining that away.

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A British art student’s class project could turn into a useful tool for divorcing parents with young children.

Ben Forman created the Detacho Playhouse for one of his classes. It’s a dollhouse that comes apart to create two ore more separate residences. The mother and father dolls have magnets in their heads, which make it so they can’t be brought all the way together.

The idea here is obvious, and it sounds well executed based on an interview Forman gave to The Toronto Star. Explaining divorce to a young child can be one of the most difficult things a parent has to do. Clearly, Forman’s creation could make it a little bit easier. Interestingly enough, Forman, 22, says his parents are not divorced. And it sounds like he never intended to market the Detacho Playhouse. He told The Star it was intended as social commentary.

Nonetheless, the idea has gained some steam in the blogging community, and it’s possible we could see it in mass production someday.

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