Total Divorce Blog

Divorce can be a physically, mentally and financially exhausting experience that may take quite some time to recover from. With that said, a controversial Australian magazine is sponsoring a contest in which an all-expenses paid divorce for two will be provided to a man who provides the best written explanation of why he should be divorced. While some may see such a promotion as being potentially helpful to a couple seeking divorce, others are questioning the ethics and messaging of this effort. Check out our article on this controversial issue below and judge for yourself:

• Contest Offers the Ultimate Divorce Package as First Prize.

Divorce is a highly emotional experience that may leave people upset for long periods of time. With that said and as any divorce lawyer will tell you, it’s important that you follow all divorce rulings and orders–whether for child support, alimony or something else–after your divorce.

Need proof of why you need to do so? Check out the following story:

Divorced Mom Jailed for Violating Postnuptial Agreement.

As we detailed in the most recent post, the same-sex marriage partners who wish to file for divorce in the state of Rhode Island were denied the chance to do so by the state Supreme Court.

However, lawyers for the two unhappy partners who wed in Massachusetts but now live in Rhode Island are not taking “no” for an answer. As various local and national news sources have reported, the divorce case has been moved to a Rhode Island superior court, which has more jurisdiction than the family court in which it was originally presented.

This may be the final option for the two women, beyond having one of them move to Massachusetts and filing for divorce in a Massachusetts court.

Read more about the case on Total Divorce!

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island rejected the divorce petition of a lesbian couple who had married in Massachusetts. Since Rhode Island law defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, the state Supreme Court ruled that Margaret Chambers and Cassandra Ormiston could not get a divorce. The couple was married in 2004 in Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal. The Supreme Court of Rhode Island also indicated in its decision that a lower state court did not have the authority to consider the couple’s divorce petition. Chambers had cited irreconcilable differences when filing for divorce from Ormistion in Providence last year.

For more of a backstory on this Rhode Island lesbian divorce, check out the following articles:

Arguments for Rhode Island Gay Divorce Heard in State Supreme Court; and

Examining the Legality of Rhode Island Divorce for Same-Sex Marriages.

Sometimes the fighting just doesn’t end, even after the divorce papers are signed and filed.

An Idaho woman is facing arson charges after allegedly setting fire to a mounted bison head at her ex-husband’s home.

Police investigators say that Ryann Jean Stafford has been charged with third degree arson, a felony, after she got into an argument with her ex-husband at his home .  After the man left the home,  she allegedly used a cigarette lighter to set fire to the bison head on the wall.

The fire was extinguished by someone else who lives at the home and police were called.  Stafford was arrested and now faces up to 10 years in jail.

In order to keep his wife from getting the marital home in their divorce, Gary Hooley came up with a plan.  He allegedly burned the house, worth almost three-quarters of a million dollars, to the ground.

Hooley’s wife, Michelle, said that he had previously told her that he would take the house apart “brick by brick” if he had to, to keep her from getting it in the divorce settlement.

In the fire, which Hooley allegedly set while he was drunk, the home was gutted and all of the belongings inside were burnt up.

Michelle Hooley owned the home before she married Gary Hooley.  The house was in her name and she paid the mortgage and the insurance.  Apparently during their brief marriage, Gary Hooley had done extensive renovations on the home.

After the fire, police found Hooley nearby and arrested him.  Although he had been drinking heavily, he denied setting the fire that destroyed the house.

Back in early October, Total Divorce detailed a seemingly-finished West Virginia divorce that had been revived by a very expensive divorce bill. More specifically, Beckley resident Georganne Landis had turned to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling which found that her ex-husband, orthopedic surgeon A.E. Landis, did not have to foot her $333,442.86 divorce bill. With that in mind, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has decided that Dr. and Ms. Landis should, out of fairness, split the divorce bill in half after both sides had argued that they shouldn’t have to pay it.

In part of its ruling, the Justices for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that Dr. Landis continues to earn a substantial income and is in a better position to absorb some of the divorce bill as compared to his wife absorbing it all. The Landis’ amazingly began their divorce proceedings back in 1999 and obtained their divorce decree in 2002. However, the couple came to a settlement on their wealth in 2005.

Before she disappeared over two weeks ago, Stacy Peterson, 23, had told friends and family members that she wanted to divorce Drew Peterson.  She also said that if she were  to become missing to suspect foul play.

Stacy was the 4th wife of Drew Peterson and investigators say that the case is making a turn from a missing persons investigation to a homicide investigation as they uncover possible evidence of her murder.

Drew Peterson, 54, is considered a suspect in the case.  Drew has told police that he last heard from his wife on the day she disappeared and she told him that she was leaving him for another man.

Kathleen Savio, the third wife of police sergeant Drew Peterson, died  in 2004 in what Peterson called an “unusual accident”.  Her body was found  face down in a bathtub with abrasions and a gash on the back of her head.

Savio’s family has always insisted that Drew Peterson was involved in her death.  The case has been re-opened and her body will be exhumed for an investigation.

Months ago, Total Divorce detailed the criminal case of Darren Mack, a Reno businessman who was accused of murdering his wife and then shooting the judge that presided over his bitter divorce case, and here’s the latest information on this case which drew national headlines and was featured on CBS’ 48 Hours. Yesterday afternoon, Mack pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and also entered an Alford plea to an attempted murder charge. By doing so, Mack basically acknowledged that there was enough evidence for a conviction on this attempted murder charge without having to plead guilty to it.

During his 2005 divorce with his wife Charla, Darren Mack apparently felt that Chuck Weller, the divorce judge presiding over his case, was treating his wife more favorably. On June 12th of that year, Mack stabbed his wife to death and then fired shots into the judge’s chambers in which Weller was located. Weller was hit with shrapnel but survived. Mack later turned himself in to police in Mexico a week later.

In Texas a divorced couple are headed to the state’s Supreme Court to settle a fight about what happens to three frozen embryos that the couple created before the divorce.

Years ago, Augusta and Randy Roman consulted with fertility specialists and created three embryos, in hopes that they would become parents.  After the embryos were created, Randy had a very sudden change of heart and decided he wasn’t sure about the marriage, and was less sure that they should go forward with a potential pregnancy.

The Romans divorced and a long legal battle began about what would happen to the now frozen embryos.  Randy says that he has moral objections to them being used and wants them destroyed.  Augusta, 46, wants to become pregnant using the embryos and says they may be her last chance at having a biological child.

Augusta has previously won a ruling that would allow her to use the embryos, but Randy quickly appealed and the Texas Court of Appeals blocked her from having the embryos implanted.  Augusta has appealed and now the case is headed to the Texas Supreme Court.