This is a fun little story out of Canada, where a woman is having all sorts of trouble getting the judge to believe that her husband has got some questionable sources of income. She has made claims that the guy hasn't reported all of his income, but the judge isn't buying it. The guy definitely sounds suspicious, though. He's into some sort of real estate dealings and owns a hip-hop clothing store. And his estranged wife says he moves in gambling circles and wanted the judge to restrict him from taking the couple's two children to certain places.

Lots of talk, but apparently no proof. The woman was granted 55 percent of the family assets, but the judge issued a joint custody ruling despite the fact that the guy at least looks a little shady. He reportedly secured a $500,000 loan without any registered security. Something tells me that doesn't happen unless you know certain kinds of people, if you catch my drift.

You would think that appearances are everything when it comes to a judge making a custody ruling in a divorce trial. Maybe the guy used some of that half million to buy himself some really talented lawyers.

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The ongoing saga of conservative financier Richard Mellon Scaife's very public divorce battle continues to unfold. Apparently now the billionaire and his estranged wife are arguing about who gets their dog and $1,800 worth of asparagus thongs.

And you thought there were petty arguments in your divorce.

It's easy to figure that insanely wealthy people aren't put through the wringer in a divorce. They've got the means and the "people" to deal with things. Seriously, do you imagine Scaife getting on the phone with his wife to have a discussion about the asparagus thongs, or is the whole issue more his lawyer's doing?

However those sorts of things play themselves out, it must be distracting for a divorce happen in public view. As you can see, the blogosphere has been buzzing with details of Scaife's divorce for going on two years, and so has the mainstream press. We've talked about it here too, including the $725,000 per month he's been paying in alimony.

We'd probably all like to have that kind of money to part with. But it comes with its own set of problems. I'd take an average Jane and Joe divorce — out of the public eye — any day of the week.

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There's one thing about divorce that never ceases to amaze me. There are always legal and financial complications — even when there are official documents drawn up specifically to prevent that. I was reminded of this when I read a recent piece by a financial advice columnist with a suburban Chicago newspaper.

A man wrote in asking what to do about his ex-wife, who had one year to decide whether to sell their house or stay in it,refinance it, and take him off the title. Well, it turns out she's missed a couple of payments and now the mortgage company is coming after him for the cash. As far as the mortgage company is concerned, the guy and his ex-wife both are still on the hook. It makes no difference what the divorce paperwork says. And that's a crucial lesson for anyone who's in a similar situation.

Now, it's true that this guy has the law on his side to the extent that the judge in their divorce case is going to make the woman pay eventually. Or she'll be forced to sell. But in the interim, the best thing this guy can do is pay the mortgage company and then recoup the money from his ex-wife in court. Of course, making those payments is probably easier said than done. And therein lies the problem. You don't want to be stuck in that situation. With his name still on the title, he's not going to be able to get another loan, and those missed payments are going to start to impact his credit rating if he's not careful. Never mind the fact that he's probably got his own rent to worry about — now he's got to find cash to make those mortgage payments too.

Don't you love it when rich people argue? Now, I don't mean to be callous. It's painful for anyone to go through a divorce. But there's a woman in England who has a lot of experience with that pain and everything else that comes along with it.

Susan Crossley is now divorcing her fourth millionaire husband. The former model is in court, haggling it out, because she claims husband No. 4 didn't disclose vast amounts of money he held in offshore accounts when the couple drew up their prenuptial agreement.

Oh, yeah, these two definitely had a prenup. Need you ask?

She's pissed at him because of his confessed adultry. He's pissed at her because he says she's a "career divorcee," which I think is hilarious.

It's not like she needs more cash. According to a story in Britain's Telegraph, she's worth £18 million after her previous three divorces. Again, I don't mean to diminish anyone's pain and suffering, because any divorce sucks. And if this guy cheated on her, he's a low-life who doesn't deserve a woman in his life to begin with. But I find these stories highly entertaining, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it bottoms out.

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I saw a piece on a British Web site about the importance of post-divorce financial planning, and it led with a striking statistic. According to Britain’s National Savings & Investment, divorced and separated people are among the least prepared for their financial futures, with 70 percent of couples having no plan for their money.

When you’re married, some type of financial planning is a virtual must. For most couples it would be unthinkable to go without a roadmap for putting away some money, investing in the stock market or buying life insurance. And that doesn’t end when you split up. In fact, it’s just the opposite: It begins all over again. You have to re-establish yourself as an independent financial entity, and it can be tough to concentrate on all the busy work involved when you’re marriage has just fallen apart. But it’s crucial.

The Web is full of reminders about what you should do for yourself financially when you divorce. But here are a few of the important things to remember:

Close joint accounts and set up accounts in your own name. This one is critical, especially if you and your ex are squabbling over money and what divorcing couple doesn’t squabble over money, right? Perhaps this is the first thing you can agree on: How much does each of you take out of your joint accounts? In many cases, of course, those accounts end up being frozen until a judge decides.

Be smart about dividing your assets. There are all sorts of rules and regulations when it comes to stocks, retirement annuities and the like. Know what you’re dealing with. Know the tax implications. Be smart.

Factor in child support. This one gets tricky and more often than not lands people in lawyer’s offices. You and your ex stopped being married to each other, but you didn’t stop being mom and dad. Everyone needs to remember that.

One of the things you hear a lot about in coverage of divorce trends is that women generally don’t do as well financially as men in divorce settlements. That, of course, makes it critical for you to really take stock of your finances and play an active role in managing your money, particularly if it was something you deferred to your ex during your marriage. If you’re going to be on your own, you no longer have that luxury.

It’s interesting that this trend of men getting the better end of the deal isn’t just an American thing. Britain’s Daily Mail reported the other day on a study that found divorced women in the U.K. have the same problem. Married British men are more likely to contribute to pension plans than married women. And among divorced people in England, men are more likely to be setting money aside for savings.

There’s really no way to overstate the importance of getting your financial house in order after a divorce. It may seem like one more burden at an inopportune time. But if you haven’t been active in investing or planning for your future or your children’s future, you should consider meeting with a financial advisor. Even if you don’t have money to invest, you can start making plans for when you do. It can be an intimidating thing, but you’ll be surprised how your anxieties decline once you start taking action.

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It sure feels like a long time ago. Just imagine what it would feel like if you'd spent these last eight years slogging through a divorce. Well, a quarreling West Virginia couple doesn't have to imagine, because they've been doing it, although their long and winding (and expensive) road seems to have finally come to an end.

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled this week that A.E. Landis, a surgeon from Beckley, West Virginia, has to pay half of the costs his ex-wife Georganne Banning Landis incurred during their excruciatingly long divorce. She wanted him to pay all of it. He didn't want to give her a dime. So the court handed them a not-so-happy medium.

How much money are we talking here? Well, that's the fun part of this. Dr. Landis is going to have to cough up about $150,000. Georganne's expenses included $171,000 in attorney fees and $142,000 in accountant fees. I'm tempted to ask how the hell anyone ends up with those kind of bills for legal and accounting services, but I guess over the course of eight years anything is possible.

As if you couldn't tell, I love to poke fun at these kinds of stories, but there is actually a really important point that shouldn't be lost in this one. Dr. Landis reportedly had more than 20 life insurance or disability policies and he dragged his feet on coming clean to his wife and the court on how much value was tied up in them. When you reflect on that for a minute, his wife's expenses start to make a little sense.

The lesson here is one you hear a lot when you read tips about how to navigate a divorce: Take stock of all finances, including joint accounts, and fight for what you're entitled to.

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.

Now, on the surface, that may seem obvious. Everyone knows a big part of going through a divorce is managing your finances. But if you think about it a little more deeply, it means that a lot of those women weren't paying all that much attention to their financial well-being prior to their divorces. And that's no good.

Experts quoted in a Financial Post story about the TD Waterhouse poll recommend more women taking an active role in money matters, regardless of their marital status. And further, they emphasize the importance of formulating a backup plan. Even if you like your present circumstances, you never know what's around the bend. Everyone needs a Plan B.

Perhaps it's something that comes with age, because the poll found that older women generally do have backup plans. But this is something that you should think about if you're in your 20s or 30s, regardless of where you are in your life.

Even if it's just putting some money into a 401k, or a CD if you don't want to tie up your money long-term, anything you can do to save now is in your best interest. If you've been through a divorce, you know that already.

You’ll find no shortage of people who say that it’s too easy to get a divorce here in the U.S. And it’s probably true that there are couples who are quick to call it quits without giving it a whole lot of thought. The alternative to easy access to divorce, however, is frightening. I’m not sure I realized just how frightening until I read a news report about the state of divorce in Ireland.

As we’ve written here before, divorce has only been legal in Ireland for 10 years. To say they’re still getting the hang of it would be a massive understatement. The biggest problem is that the courts are overburdened with divorce cases — so much so that many couples don’t get proper hearings. Court dates can be delayed for months, even in cases that involve the welfare of children. It’s apparently common for there to be no transcripts of proceedings, and many couples don’t get written documentation of judges’ decisions.

It gets worse. Irish law requires couples to be separated for four years before a divorce can be finalized. Ireland, of course, is predominantly Catholic, and it’s obvious the nation’s religious base is doing everything it can to keep couples from breaking up. But when the process is so difficult it sends the message that the nation would rather have you be married and miserable than create a civilized, compassionate system that will assist you in navigating one of the most difficult periods of your life. And that stinks.

You’ve got a wonderfully picturesque landscape, Ireland. But your divorce system makes you look like a landfill.

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