After 19 years, actors Marg Helgenberger and Alan Rosenberg have separated, reports The New York Daily News.

Helgenberger gained popularity on CSI and China Beach, while Rosenberg — who is currently the president of the Screen Actors Guild — is known for his roles on L.A. Law, Cybill, and Chicago Hope, among dozens of other television programs and movies.

The two met on soap opera Ryan's Hope in the mid-80s; they met again a few years later by coincidence at a Los Angeles bank. According to the Post article, they moved in together shortly after their chance encounter and eloped in 1989. They most recently appeared together on CSI in 2007.

Media reports have indicated that Helgenberger may be attempting to distance herself from Rosenberg as he enters tumultuous times with SAG — a strike is looming over Internet/new media residual payments. Perhaps other SAG members would do such a thing — but his wife? Not likely.

The couple has an 18-year-old son together, which makes FWW wonder if maybe they stayed together for his benefit? Seems a more plausible, answer, besides growing apart, of course. Let's not forget that a 19-year Hollywood marriage is unheard of these days.

US Weekly quoted Helgenberger's rep, saying the two have chose to "take some time apart" and that they continue to love and support one another. Perhaps it's a temporary separation. Either way, we applaud them for their amicable split. Role models for divorce, one could say...

As the economy worsens, forecasters predict that divorces will slow. Fortunately, local governments are offering relief to those seeking to amicably split who might not otherwise have the money to cover hundreds of dollars in legal fees.

North Dakota's Burleigh County recently introduced the Domestic Relations Summary Proceedings for those making less than $20,000, reports local area news station KFYR. Most likely unable to afford the cost of an attorney, qualified Burleigh County residents can take advantage of a new simplified process and forms.

By studying previous county divorce cases, a local law office developed a set forms and directions, which includes step-by-step instructions for both the plaintiff and defendant. The packets are available at the county clerk's office for $5.

Beyond purchasing the Summary Proceedings paperwork, the plaintiff must pay an $80 filing fee; the defendant, $50.

North Dakota isn't the only state looking to lend a hand. The Self Help Center of St. Petersburg, Florida, now offers residents a drop-in legal center, says Tampa Bay's 10connects.com.

Lawyers are on hand to assist with divorce procedures, filling out forms, and answering questions, all to the tune of $1 a minute. While the legal experts can't represent or file paperwork, they are available to counsel several days a week through the Pinellas County Clerks.

In the movie “First Wives Club,” Ivana Trump immortalized the words, “Don’t get mad, get everything.” In her indomitable way, she has done just that by shedding her latest husband, Rossano Rubicondi after seven months of marriage.

In the announcement, Trump said, “Rossano wants to live in Miami and work in Milan. But I am a New Yorker and my family, friends and businesses are here.”

It was no surprise that the marriage disintegrated. After Rubicondi, 35, was photographed snuggling with a blonde and licking a brunette named Sara Varone over the weekend, Trump, 59, trumped him by announcing that she had filed a legal separation three months ago and already said “Ciao.”

As she has often advised others, Ivana Trump had a pre-nup before walking down the aisle in the gardens of Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach estate belonging to her ex-husband, Donald.

Donald Trump told The New York Post that the family is happy.

"You can't be overly surprised by this, it's unfortunate it [the marriage] ever took place," The Donald told The Post. "The marriage was unfortunate and now it has to be unwound."

The Donald and Ivana had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.

You may recall a piece we covered in early October entitled, "Man Poses As Divorce Lawyer." At the time, Arizona resident Gary Karpin was facing 24 counts of theft and one count of fraud as a result of posing as a divorce lawyer and deceiving at least two dozen clients. (Check out how he was caught.)

Well, the verdict's in, and Karpin has been found guilty of all charges and has been sentenced to 15 years of jail time, reports zoniereport.com.

According to the article, the 57-year-old was ashamed of his behavior and said he would accept any punishment the court handed down (not like he has choice...).

What's more troubling than the $300,000 he essentially stole from his clients is the financial condition he left them in. One woman, who paid Karpin $90,000, was forced to declare bankruptcy and is unable to purchase plane tickets to visit her ailing parents.

There was no talk of restitution, but an additional hearing will address the matter, and a civil case has been filed against Karpin, as well.

Photo: The Arizona Republic

Ever since Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil tied the knot in May 2007, rumors have swirled that their marriage was over. The New York Post's Page Six, however, reports that two have split-this time for real. The paper says the 25-year-old admitted to a British tabloid that she has split from her 26-year-old husband.

She's a drug-challenged, Grammy-award-winning artist; he's currently serving time for assault and bribery charges. Both have their issues, sure. But is one of them codependence?

Winehouse may say it's over — she says that Fielder-Civil left her for a German model — but who's knows what she'll say tomorrow. One thing's for sure: Their reported shared sex kink (see the link to the article, above) is enough to keep our finger on the Winehouse-Civil pulse...

Photo: popbuzzUK.com

She was a tall, young Armani model from Yugoslavia. He was a short billionaire who happened to be the head of a Formula 1 racing federation. They met at a Formula 1 race in Italy in 1981, and didn’t speak a word of each other’s language. Well, she did know how to communicate one thing: rejection, with a fake phone number.

But, as The Telegraph of London said, “Ever since he was a boy, growing up in wartime Suffolk, Bernie Ecclestone has coveted things of sleekness and beauty that cost a lot to run and vanish at amazing speed.”

He tracked her down and married her.

The marriage crossed the finish line last week, after 24 years, which is actually a pretty long race. What is astonishing: Slavica Ecclestone’s filing for divorce seems to have caught her husband by surprise.

Let’s consider, this stunning woman, once a blonde now a brunette, and her two stunning daughters, Tamara, 24 and Petra, 19, lived under the thumb of a man who once said “Women should be in the kitchen... They should wear white, like a domestic appliance, and they shouldn’t be allowed out. You don’t take the washing machine out of the house, do you?”

Oh boy. And he didn’t see this coming?

When asked about the divorce action he told The Telegraph, "Really? ... You hear of things — I must find out."

He’s now 78, and she is 50. He is 5 foot 4, and she is a willowy 6 foot 2. Their daughters are stars in their own right in London, one a presenter, the other a fashion designer.

When are children acting in their parents’ best interests? And when are children acting in their own best interests? Usually these questions come up in billion-dollar cases, like the one with Anna Nichole Smith and her husband, J. Howard Johnson, 63 years her senior.

Who’s to say that Anna Nicole Smith, a former Playboy playmate, did not make the last years of Johnson’s life in Texas a lot happier, even if they never lived together?

Ok, let’s leave that extremely messy question behind.

Next question: if a penny-pinching widower named Claude Thomas, age 87, secretly marries Susana Martinez Ramirez, 45, in 2001, and if she spends a lot of his money on things like cars for her ex-husband and clothes and such, who is to say that Claude Thomas is not happy to be throwing some money around, including in her direction.

Why of course it’s his children. They say that their father amassed $1.5 million by being frugal. And that his second wife has spent down that estate to a mere $165,000 since their marriage in 2001. And so they petitioned the court to force their father to divorce his wife.

Although Claude Thomas had exhibited some early signs of dementia, in court he said that he was happy with his wife, and her spending habits. He had met her when she was pushing a tea cart in a local restaurant. After that she came to help clean his house. And even though she doesn’t speak much English, and he doesn’t speak much Spanish, they found comfort in each other after Thomas’s wife died.

Somehow, two years later, in 2001, Thomas and Ramirez got married. His children claim that there was no sign of the marriage. And that she didn’t live with him.

The divorce is final between Madonna and Guy Ritchie, and she can continue being a material girl.

Ritchie, who has his own wealth (estimated at more than $50 million), didn't want manimony and they both keep their assets.

The terms Madonna cited were "unreasonable behavior" by Ritchie — though the decree did not elaborate on what that could be. But what is reasonable is that they worked out an arrangement that didn't escalate into an ugly painful public battle a la Heather Mills and Paul McCartney. That divorce case has become a cautionary tale for any one.

Madonna and Ritchie worked out a custody arrangement where his sons Rocco, 8, and David Banda, 3, who was adopted from Malawi in 2006, can split their time between Britian and the United States.

But as we reported before, this is still a loss for the children since they will only get to see one parent periodically. When school is in session in the States, it's not as though Guy can just take them out for a quick Wednesday dinner or a weekend soccer game. There will be extended time away from his children. But like many fathers, he will deal with the cards he's dealt and play his best hand. Plus, the advantage of cellphones is that you can use them and soon the kids will be of age for email.

A British reverend has been banned from the ministry for seven years following an affair with a female parishioner, reports The Telegraph. Rev. Andrew Gair served as marriage therapist to a husband and wife, known only as Mr. and Mrs. X, in 2004.

Gair counseled the couple individually. He saw Mr. X on parish grounds, while he took "long walks in the countryside" with Mrs. X. (How romantic!) According to both Gair and Mrs. X, they fell in love and spoke of starting a new life together.

His guilt getting the best of him, Gair confessed the relationship to Mr. X, claiming that "these things happen." Gair and Mrs. X soon went their separate ways after realizing that they weren't meant to be together — although Mr. and Mrs. X are divorcing after all.

According to the article: Gair's scandal "emerged just days after the Rev. Teresa Davies, a motorbike-riding female vicar who held church services while drunk and went on wife-swapping holidays with her husband, was banned for 12 years."

Yikes. Those Church of England revs really know how to have a good time, don't they?

Madonna is about to find out that she can’t flex her muscles when it comes to her soon-to-be ex-husband’s parenting style. The self-described control freak reportedly gave a list of rigid rules documenting what Guy Ritchie could and couldn’t do when he has sons Rocco, 8, and David, 3.

The list reportedly included a ban on TV, no Miley Cyrus for these boys, no non-organic food such as microwaved pizza and soda, nor any clothes that were not 100 percent cotton and sent by her. She even wanted her total blessings on what water they drank — Kaballah preferred — and no toys that are “spiritually or ethically unsound.”

What this sounds like is a recipe for disaster.

Divorced women tell me all the time that the hardest part of divorce is not leaving the husband but leaving the kids with him. And if you, like Madonna, are used to control, it becomes agony to realize the limited power you now have over your ex-spouse’s parenting style. It’s as though handcuffs have been put on you just when you thought you were finally liberated.

“Moms go nuts about this but all they can do is write to Dear Abby or Firstwivesworld,” says noted divorce lawyer Raoul Felder. “The courts will not mini-manage or arbitrate parenting styles unless it involves safety or basic acceptable serious judgment issues.”

Such as?

“Other than allergies like peanuts, religion and sky diving, the hand of the parent who turned the kids over for their weekend with Pop has about as much to say in what the kids do there as Bush does in the choice of the next Secretary of State,” Felder says. “But isn’t that what week-end Dads are all about? Lot’s of hot dogs, chocolate and crummy blood and gory movies.”