Total Divorce Blog

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.

Last December, Michael Jordan and wife had a divorce settlement on the table, ready and waiting for the former Chicago Bulls superstar’s signature. Now, after a year of negotiations over the particulars of the settlement, Jordan has reportedly signed off on the final amount to be paid to his ex-wife, Juanita Jordan.

Jordan will hand over a reported record $168 million to his ex, sources claim. This would make the settlement the largest ever celebrity divorce settlement, besting the $150 million that Neil Diamond paid to his ex-wife Marcia Murphey.

The London Times, which broke the story, claims that part of the settlement includes Jordan’s seven-acre ranch in Chicago, and also includes custody of their three children.

The story also reports that Jordan may have gotten off easy. Jordan had signed a prenuptial agreement that entitled her to half of his considerable fortune. With estimates that he is worth as much as $550 million, it turns out that Juanita has decided to take only around a third of his worth.

Well, it seems that reality tv is great for one thing - getting people into divorce court!

On November 20, Linda Marie Bollea filed for divorce from Terry Gene Bollea.  Not familiar with this couple?  They are none other than Mr. and Mrs. (for now) Hulk Hogan.

The couple appeared to be having marital problems during their reality tv show on VH1, and then in August, their son Nick Hogan was involved in a car accident which has left his friend in a vegetative state.  Nick has been charged with reckless driving in connection with the accident.

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.

A New York pastor and his wife are divorcing, and she wants the church. Well, not exactly. But, according to newsday.com, the wife believes that the church should be treated as an asset in their divorce.

Apparently, the couple poured more than $50,000 of their own money into starting the church, and the pastor/husband ran the operation like a business. The wife claims he spent congregation donations according to his whims and ran a catering service out of the church building.

Her divorce lawyer says that the church is no different from any other business venture, but the pastor insists he is merely a church employee, and has no right of ownership to the church.

A judge has agreed to hear arguments in the case, which could be the first divorce case ever in which a religious institution was cited as an asset in a divorce.

Velma Warren Brown, 73, must have a terrible memory.  She thought she was still married to soul singer James Brown at the time of his death, although they divorced in 1969!

The ex-Mrs. James Brown filed papers in Aiken, South Carolina and claimed that she and James Brown had married in 1953 but never divorced.  She was right about one of those allegations, and sadly mistaken about the other.

Velma Warren married James Brown in 1953 when he was working as a janitor.  They were legally divorced on August 6, 1969.

Had she not divorced the “Godfather of Soul”, his other three marriages would have been invalid.  Velma would have stood to inherit about $100 million that his kids and other family members are now fighting to get.

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.

Actor Brad Garrett, best known for his role on “Everybody Loves Raymond”, and his wife Jill Diven have officially ended their seven year marriage. Diven filed for divorce from Garrett in April, 2006.

The divorce was recently finalized with Garrett agreeing to pay Diven $20,000 per month in child support for the couple’s two children and $35,000 per month in spousal support until the end of 2018 unless Divin remarries or one of them dies before then. Divin will also receive half of Garrett’s profit participation money from “Everybody Loves Raymond”.

The couple will share legal and physical custody of their kids.

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.