

What can we learn from serial celebrity break-ups, billionaire bust-ups, misbehaving spouses, pants-on challenged politicos and the ever-shifting landscape of divorce law? Question is, "What CAN'T we learn"? With latte in hand and clicky finger at the ready, dive in for the best in divorce news, views, gossip, and buzz – assembled below for your reading pleasure.

"Usually men go through crises in mid-life," said Kristin Georgi, a 23-year-old manicurist who recently ended a three-month marriage with Hardy. "Not Joe," she tells the Mirror. "In his 80s, you think he would be settling down, but no..."
Once Georgi walked, Hardy filed for divorce at Fayette County Common Pleas Court in Pennsylvania citing, of all things, "irreconcilable differences."
"You think there are some differences there?" joked Georgi. "You think? There is only a 61-year gap."
The divorce has yet to be finalized, but word is that Hardy isn't wasting any of his precious time, having already found a new mate in a 22-year-old named Danielle.
Georgi, for her part, doesn't seem overly distraught by the loss. Along with her youth, she managed to get a number of expensive gifts out of the relationship, not least of which was a Porsche.
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But why are we telling you about it? Firstly, because the same people who host Daddy Divorce Camps are in the process of putting together a Mommy Divorce Camp. And second, because while these getaways are intended specifically to help daddies, mommies and the rest of the family are supposed to benefit as well.
For about $600, attendees receive crash courses in a range of divorce-related issues — from legal and financial, to family and child matters — along with anger management and stress reduction techniques. Workshops take place to rebuild confidence and assist in the healing and closure process. Campers can also indulge in some extracurricular activities like sports, a comedy show, and poker.
The poker skills aside, it would seem enormously beneficial for at least one member of a splitting couple, if not both, to get better acquainted with the above issues — and take an anger management course or three. Also, as long as Daddy's new confidence doesn't turn into bullying, we'd much rather be dealing with a man in the process of finding himself, than one lost in a sea of fear, anger, and self-pity.
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"In military-speak it's about surveillance and reconnaissance," King says of keeping track of documents, old check statements, and credit card account balances. "It is war. Do not share lawyers. Remember it's war and that's the way to address it."
Thinking strategically like a general leading troops is essential. Discussing impulsive retribution, King explains: "Whatever pops into your head, don't act on it. It could end up hurting you later in court with your settlement, with custody issues."
In King's army, however, emotions are standard issue. "There was nothing out there that says it's OK if you're feeling terrible — only dry lecture books," King says of her experience when she went through her own divorce. "You need a friend to hold your hand through the painful moments. There's so much you don't know."
But like any general, King had to make her share of tough decisions. Her first order of business was to put her ex's family off-limits. As for friends, there were three camps: hers, his and theirs.
"Oh, let him have them," said O'Connell. "She had plenty of players in her army."
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For couples with pets, a split usually means just that. Steve and Lynelle, the advice team over at The Herald Bulletin, recently responded to one Madison County, Indiana man facing this issue.
After settling the standard business of finances and property, he and his ex-wife were left fighting over custody of their dog. It was his to begin with, but she was now threatening to sue over custody of the pooch. She had apparently become really attached to the dog and demanded they share custody of it as if it were a child.
"I told her that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard."
In fact, as advice man Steve tells it, a number of states are actually in the process of reconsidering the status of pets as mere property. Some courts have even gone so far as to set up parenting plans for pets, including custody visits!
Both Steve and Lynelle agree the man will most likely win full custody of his dog if his ex-wife takes him to court. "Despite your wife's attachment to the animal, your attachment goes back before you met her so she would need an extreme argument (such as documented pet abuse) to take the dog from you," Steve explained.
We're pet lovers, and dog lovers all the more, but joint custody for something that drinks out of the toilet seems a little nuts. Don't these people have lives? And the idea that a court would even waste its time with something so silly says more about the litigious nature of our culture than anything else.
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Take Jermaine LaJaune Jackson, a.k.a. Muhammad Abdul Aziz, and his second wife Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza. The two split in 2005 after nine years of marriage, from which point Jermaine's been as much help as an umbrella in a hurricane.
Alejandra's broke and taking care of their two pre-teen sons, Jaffar and Jermajesty. (Jermaine has six other kids, and Alejandra two from a previous relationship with Jermaine's littlest brother, Randy.) She's now even resorted to living with Jackson's 78-year-old mother, Katherine, and says that Jermaine is responsible for $22,741 in debts and unpaid loans.
All to which Jermaine responds: "Get in line, woman!"
"I do not object to an appropriate level of child support," is his official line, according to court documents filed Tuesday as part of their ongoing divorce proceedings. "However, the reality is that [Alejandra] has knowingly misled this court into believing that I have income which I do not. I currently do not have any employment..."
"Thus I find myself in a Catch-22 situation where while I need money, I also need to be very cognizant of what employment I do undertake so as not to degrade my market value and ability to obtain legitimate work in the future. Unfortunately (and sadly), this troubling situation is very common in the entertainment industry."
Still, it's not for lack of trying. Since April, Jermaine's been in talks to team up with La Toya and Tito to serve as judges on a CBS show about the search for the next big band of brothers. We'd watch that!
He also says that he'd be happy to watch the kids if Alejandra wants to get off her butt and get a job.
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Resolution seems to have finally arrived for golfer Greg Norman and his wife of 25-years, Laura.
The two — who've been slogging through a nasty $500 million divorce — signed divorce papers this week in a Florida court, and agreed to divide their vast business empire.
While the terms of the deal remain sealed, Laura stands to receive the proceeds from the sale of their $21-million Jupiter Island mansion in Florida, along with a share of Norman's $500-million fortune.
Last we heard from these two, their camps were battling over arguably defamatory accusations that Norman had cut off Laura from her home and credit cards.
Some minor matters are yet to be resolved — like who's responsible for the tax liability on their private jet — but the ex-pair seem ready to put the whole mess behind them. Press reports noted both Norman and Laura appeared emotionally shaken in court. With the heat of the battle over, it looks like these two are beaten and bruised.
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Case in point: Debra Opri, the reptile-esque attorney who once represented Pamela Bach, is now after an additional $150,000 from David Hasselhoff's ex-wife. All parties are expected to meet before a judge today to sort out the financials, sources tell the self-proclaimed queen of all media, Perez Hilton.
Double-dipping is nothing new for Opri (pictured here with the godfather of soul James Brown), who made headlines when she demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees from former client Larry Birkhead, Anna Nicole Smith's former lover and father of her baby.
Marking six degrees of trash, Kevin Federline's attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, recently filed a motion to be removed from the Bach case--a proposal Bach shot down.
Call her a tough-love feminist, Opri has a long history of boldly representing saints like James Brown, when he was accused of sexual harassment by a former employee, and Michael Jackson's parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson, when their son was charged with child molestation.
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"You'll get a share," was the message Angela Kelly, 40, sent Wednesday to her ex, Gerry Kelly, who is quite possibly the luckiest man to have ever walked on British soil. Potentially complicating matters, the couple was never officially divorced, in part to minimize the split's impact on their only son John, who was 6 at the time. Still, Angela Kelly told the British press that she's happy to spread her newfound wealth.
"Me and Gerry have always got on well since we split up," she said. Since their split Angela has been dating another postal worker from the same local "sorting office."
One message to draw from this tale? Good things come to those who can sustain cordial relations with their exes. Or, perhaps, civility and politness are thoroughly British traits!
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