Apparently, K-Fed, Britney Spears' ex, is a generous tipper.

According to attorneys for Spears, if Kevin Federline can tip a waitress $2,000, he can afford to pay his own legal bills. And boy are those bills mounting: K-Fed is looking at a $405,000 legal tab that he thinks his ex should pay.

Spears' new attorney Stacy Phillips told a court commissioner that Federline should pay between $150,000 and $175,000. She alleges that K-Fed omitted his $200,000 spousal-support checks from his earning declarations. Phillips also alleges that Federline recently tipped a waitress $2,000 on a $365 bill, and spent $20,000 on jewelry, phone calls and food while listing the charges as "business expenses."

Naturally, K-Fed's attorney says Spears should keep writing the checks. Spears' old law firm Trope and Trope reportedly charged her $630,000 for four months' work, while Federline's portion of the bill from his attorney was about $250,000 less.

These legal fees are mind-blowing but when you consider that attorneys, all kinds, routinely make $500 an hour, not including the hefty retainers they receive at the get-go....well, it's not unfathomable to see how quickly celebrity divorce cases hit the million dollar mark.

We're waiting to see what happens in the Mills/McCartney ruling, supposedly scheduled for March 17. And now, we're waiting with bated breath for the Spitzers to split; the New York Governor, in case you haven't heard, was caught up in a prostitution ring. Eliot Spitzer comes from a wealthy family but it's Silda who earned the big bucks as a high-powered corporate attorney. We'll wait and see...

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Heather Mills, the ex-wife of former Beatle Paul McCartney, is just a little richer today, having scored a $108 million dollar settlement after a week-long battle in a British court.

The Daily Mail newspaper also reports that Mills will receive a lump sum of $40 million with another $5 million a year after the couple's daughter Beatrice, 4, turns 18.

The newspaper reports that the whopper settlement represents just a fraction of McCartney's fortune.

Originally, Mills asked for up to $160 million.

The Mills/McCartney nasty divorce began in May 2006; Mills is the primary caretaker of the couple's daughter but both parents have equal visitation.

The settlement managed to eclipse the previous British divorce settlement record of $94 million. That record was set by businessman John Charman.,

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She stuck with him through thick and thin and now Elizabeth Fogle, who was married to Jared "The Subway Guy" Fogle, is getting a fat divorce settlement from the Subway pitchman.

Elizabeth Fogle was married to Jared for six years. Jared lost 245 pounds in a year by creating a special diet consisting of turkey and veggie sandwiches from the Subway chain. Elizabeth's getting more than $230,000 from Jared Fogle Inc. and 60 percent of the proceeds from her ex's book, published by St. Martin's Press.

Jared, who at one time weighed 425 pounds, became a pitchman for Subway restaurants in a series of TV commercials that made him an overnight D-list celebrity.

Jared and Elizabeth separated in March 2006 and their divorce became final last fall.

Apparently Jared's managed to keep the weight off despite his penchant for indulging in nachos and cheese at Indianapolis Colts games. And ladies, he's dating!

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Great piece by Kimberly Palmer in the "Alpha Consumer" column in U.S. News and World Report about how exes can clear up their credit if their partner stole their identity or otherwise ruined their credit. Too many women are in this situation. Is that you?

The piece suggests immediately calling credit reporting agencies like Equifax if your ex used your name and Social Security number to obtain credit without your knowledge. Close unauthorized accounts and all joint credit card and other acounts, file a fraud report with the police and alert all credit reporting agencies to place a fraud alert on your account.

If your ex is using credit cards you previously owned as a couple, then you are still liable for any charges that surface. Ouch! In states with community property laws, all accounts opened during a marriage are considered joint, regardless of whose name is on them. But you can still file a report disputing the charges with the credit reporting agencies. Have any of you been through this ordeal?

Keep in mind that divorcing couples who negotiate divorce decrees that include that one ex-spouse will pay off the credit card debt aren't excused from the other ex's financial responsibility. Ouch! Creditors can still demand payment from the "clean" spouse which can negatively impact their credit score.

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Okay, so you're in the middle of a divorce and your ex has somehow managed to ruin your credit even though you were the one who handled most, if not all, of the finances. What do you do? Well, First Wives World has tackled this subject recently. As a matter of fact, we're going to keep educating you about it because it's soooo important.

Divorce can bring on financial ruin, as many people know. If you have merged assets and joint ownership of property (like most married couples do) this is a major issue! I was reading a story that brings up a good point: When you divorce, your marriage ends but not your shared financial responsibilities. If your spouse racked up debt without your knowledge during the marriage, you may be held responsible for it after the divorce. It sucks, but it's true.

So financial experts agree that you must take action to cut all financial ties with your ex. Here's what you can do for starters:

1. Make sure you know where all accounts are including bank accounts, mortgage loans, credit cards and utilities. Even if you and your spouse have decided who gets what property, you need to make sure that the right person is solely responsible for their respective belongings.

2. Remove your spouse's name from all accounts or cancel them completely. You should both handle the canceling together. Start with the bank accounts. If you're taking possession of a car with both of your names on the note, have your spouse's name removed. Make sure that your spouse does the same thing with any property they take.

And, if you're still paying for any of this property, then you may have to refinance to get the loan down to one name. Any bills you paid together, such as your utilities, should be put in one name. For credit cards, work with the companies to have them transfer half of the balance to two different accounts.
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Divorce can be a long process. It's also a major "financial event." And according to the folks at The Motley Fool, it can be costly...oh my, yes. Depending on who you are and what your net worth is, etc., etc.

The Fool suggests you seek out an attorney's advice early even if you're only thinking about a divorce and even if you expect it to be a mostly amicable affair.

Do keep records. Yes, that means all of your credit card statements, if no other reason than to prove you pay your bills on time. You're going to need that proof come settlement time.

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Now, from the U.K. comes a stunning victory for a millionaire who won an appeal of a court order to pay his cheating wife 200,000 British pounds or nearly $500,000 dollars almost 30 years after their divorce.

Dennis North's wife Jean left him in 1977 for another man; they divorced in 1981. She got the house and rents from other properties. Jean cried poverty after losing money on a series of bad investments. Dennis was ordered to pay up, another 202,000 pounds last year.

In a rare reversal, the court said that North was "not an insurer against all hazards nor, when fairness is the measure, is he necessarily liable for needs created by the applicant's financial mismanagement, extravagance or irresponsibility...The prodigal former wife cannot hope to turn to a former husband in pursuit of a legal remedy, whatever may be her hope that he might, out of charity, come to her rescue."

Wow...let that be a lesson to women trying to get more out of their wealthy exes decades later. Reportedly, the former Mrs. North's current financial woes have nothing to do with her ex and everything to do with her own poor judgement and lavish lifestyle.

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Get this: The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in a recent case that a man who made child support payments for a son he later found out wasn't his, can't recoup his money. Ouch!

The justices ruled that the man isn't entitled to payments he made since his 1980 divorce because state law required such a challenge to be filed prior to the child turning 23. So, it would appear that the statute of limitations ran out. I wonder if the man knew about the law.

The court ruled that even though the man found out only long after his son turned 23 that he wasn't the child's biological father, that fact alone wasn't sufficient to force the biological father to pony up now.

What a twisted story. It sure speaks to the power of DNA evidence and paternity tests. I feel badly for this guy because he did his duty unlike so many men and to find out the child isn't yours, well, one might think there ought to be a legal remedy for this situation, but apparently not in New Jersey.

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As if we needed more confirmation of this fact, but here it is again: A new study finds that women post-divorce are in considerably worse shape financially than men.

The study also showed that, on the whole, mothers of young children fared poorly after divorce, as they found it difficult to cope with work and raise their kids.

The study of more than 4,000 people found that while a man's earnings increase by 11 percent on average after he divorces, a woman loses about 17 percent of her income.

Researchers tracked the incomes of divorced men and women over seven years. And get this: They found that divorced women would be in better shape by marrying again than trying to return to work!

So ladies, remarriage is a viable idea for you. If not for love, how about for money?

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And now, from the U.K., a divorce case involving a development that may have implications for wealthy ex-spouses the world over.

A retired builder was ordered to cough up more money to the woman he divorced nearly 30 years ago after a judge heard she had "fallen on hard times," according to a British Court of Appeal.

Dennis North, 70, divorced his first wife Jean, 61, in 1978, a year after discovering she was having an affair with the man she later went to live with. In 1981, he settled with Jean, buying her a house and investments. North also gave her more funds over time so that she could live comfortably for the rest of her life.

In 1999, Jean moved to Australia, made a series of bad investments and claimed to have fallen on hard times. A judge awarded her a lump sum last year even though he agreed that her financial woes had nothing to do with her ex-husband.

However, North is said to have increased his worth considerably to some 15 million pounds. So what are the implications for wealthy ex-spouses here? Can a judge really return to a 30-year-old divorce settlement, reopen the case and renegotiate the terms based on current economic realities?

Just when does the financial obligation end on a divorce settlement? Where do you draw the line?

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