Divorces

Track standout Marion Jones has separated from her husband, world shotput champion C.J. Hunter, and will seek a divorce. Jones, winner of a record five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, stood at her husband's side at the Games when he was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. But she said the two have "irreconcilable differences, which have made nurturing our marriage extremely difficult."

Neither Frank nor Jamie McCourt spared any expense in enlisting a team of attorneys for what is believed to be the costliest divorce case in California history. The case had apparently ended with a settlement in October 2011, in which Jamie McCourt accepted $131 million and relinquished any claim to the Dodgers. Jamie McCourt signed the agreement against the advice of one of her attorneys, Bert Fields. In an email he sent to one of Frank McCourt's attorneys, Fields said he had advised Jamie McCourt not to proceed, in the belief that her ex-husband had not provided all the financial information necessary "for her to make an informed decision.

A Swedish man, desolate after his wife filed for divorce, converted the family's stock shares and mutual funds into cash and burned the money, about 700,000 crowns ($81,300) in banknotes, the Aftonbladet newspaper said. "Bitterness is not uncommon in connection with divorces, but it is almost unique that one of the spouses puts fire to all their wealth," Bengt Svensson, public prosecutor in Jonkoping, told the paper.

Our long national nightmare appears to be over: Kim Kardashian reached a divorce agreement with Kris Humphries on Friday in L.A. A judge signed off on the deal, reportedly telling the reality-TV star, "Congratulations on your dissolution. "  The divorce will become final once papers are prepped and signed by both parties. PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian's relationships and flings And what did Humphries get out of the deal by being a pill since Halloween 2011 and insisting on an annulment instead of a divorce?

When it comes to the effects of divorce on children, all parental splits are not created equal. That is what recent research from the University of Pennsylvania has found--research that is changing conventional wisdom on divorce. "Two different kinds of marriages that end in divorce have very different impacts on children as adults," said Paul Amato, a Pennsylvania State University professor of sociology whose research was recently published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family.

The Central Intelligence Agency placed accused spy Harold J. Nicholson in a sensitive overseas post even though such assignments generally were avoided for agents embroiled in difficult divorces, according to U.S. intelligence sources. The CIA moved Nicholson from Bucharest, Romania, where his marriage had collapsed, directly into a new posting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where Nicholson allegedly began spying for Russia in 1994.

California judicial leaders, responding to budget slashing by state lawmakers, voted Friday to approve cutbacks that will close some courthouses, reduce court hours, and delay civil trials, custody decisions and divorces in some counties. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, presiding over the meeting of top judicial policy makers, told the packed auditorium that the courts were in an "unprecedented crisis" and warned that no program would be spared scrutiny. The Judicial Council, the court's governing body, which consists primarily of judges and court officials appointed by the chief justice, approved cuts of $350 million from a statewide court budget of $1.5 billion.

Many book industry veterans maintain that any publicity is good publicity. According to this love-me-or-hate-me-but-spell-my-name- right school of salesmanship, a good scandal can only help book sales. If so, then former White House strategist Dick Morris should be in for a grand ride on "Behind the Oval Office: Winning the Presidency in the Nineties," the book Random House is set to publish Wednesday with a 150,000-copy first-run printing.

I cried while reading the full page ad from Dean to Evelyn (June 7) in honor of their 40th wedding anniversary. I haven't read anything as touching in The Times since sports writer Jim Murray's tribute to his late wife last year. It is very refreshing to read about such a long and happy marriage at a time when all I seem to hear about is divorces. I've been married for just a year and eight months, and I certainly hope my husband and I can have 40 years together. It's too bad that Dean had to pay for this lovely testimonial.

Thank you for "Hollywood Shuffle" (Aug. 31), printed the same day as the Emmy Awards news and listing just some of the (entertainment industry's) repeated marriages, divorces and live-ins. The only thing they can do while patting themselves on their backs is to distract us by Quayle-bashing because they don't know the first thing about family values. The few that do believe in marriage commitment and raising their children with solid morals: Speak up. We can't see you through all the media (depiction of)

Kris Humphries was a no-show at a mandatory divorce settlement hearing Friday, the last stop before trial in his long-playing split from Kim Kardashian. Kardashian and her lawyers were there, and Humphries' lawyers were there, according to E! Online, but no estranged husband was to be found. With her hair in a high ponytail, Kardashian "looked solemn sitting alone in the jury box" before the judge cleared the media from the courtroom and closed the hearing to the public, E! said . Drama, mama!

Re "A 'gray divorce' boom," Opinion, March 31 Susan L. Brown picks up on the current spate of columns about the meaning of marriage in our Western societies. She writes, "Men and women who are 65 can expect to live 20 more years, a long time to spend with someone you may not like so much anymore. " It strikes me as most symptomatic of the brainless, emotionless, semi-stuporous society of babes bred in bottles in Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World. " To those of this temperament, baby boomer marriages are lived through with someone you like or once liked, but "not so much anymore," as though we choose to "like" or "not like" our mates by pressing a link on a computer screen.

Lena Headey, who plays the scheming Queen Regent Cersei Lannister on HBO's "Game of Thrones," is reportedly claiming she is broke, with "less than $5" in her bank account. Headey's financial situation came to light as a result of husband Peter Loughran's making an emergency court filing in their divorce proceedings, according to TMZ. In July 2012, Headey, 39, filed for divorce from Loughran, an Irish musician, after five years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences.

Until recently, it would have been fair to say that older people simply did not get divorced. Fewer than 10% of those who got divorced in 1990 were ages 50 or older. Today, 1 in 4 people getting divorced is in this age group. It turns out that those high-profile breakups of Tipper and Al Gore, and Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, were part of a trend. Baby boomers, who drove the huge increase in divorce that began during the 1970s and persisted through the early 1980s, are at it again.

Divorce can hurt the pocketbook in ways that some people don't expect. Lost income, child support, spousal support all hurt. But there are other ways that divorce affects finances, said Samantha Fraelich, vice president of Bernard R. Wolfe & Associates, a Chevy Chase, Md., wealth management firm. Here are five of them: Legal expenses: Be prepared to spend thousands of dollars on legal expenses, even if the divorce is amicable. If it's contested, expect to spend much more.

Jillian Barberie Reynolds and her husband, Grant Reynolds, are splitting up. "It is with great regret that my marriage to Grant is ending after more than six years," she told the Ministry in a statement Friday. "He is a special man and we have two amazing children together, Ruby, 5, and son Rocco, 3. "This was a mutual decision that was not taken lightly and we are committed to our children and will work together to ensure their happy and healthy upbringing. " The former "Good Day L.A. " co-host and her actor beau got married in her backyard in July 2006.

Re the article on ABC's "Civil Wars" ("TV Imitating Life, Sort Of," TV Times, Nov. 1): As to Mr. (Harry) Fain's feelings of boredom and disgust at watching our show, there's little I can say. However, he also attacks us for being unrealistic because of our failure to cite "irreconcilable differences" as the basis for most divorces. Someone might point out to Mr. Fain that those big, tall buildings one sees on our show are located in New York. Given that New York remains a fault state, irreconcilable differences are not, in fact, grounds for divorce.

I take offense with Ann Bellchambers who refered to David Letterman as "the jackass of the airwaves," and "Late Night With David Letterman" as a talk show (Calendar Letters, June 9). For her information, "Late Night" is a comedy show, not some fluffy talk show. Dave doesn't stoop to wasting his and our time feeding the already corpulent egos of today's celebrities by providing still another forum for "superstars" to mouth off on their personal lives. To keep up-to-date on your favorite stars and their latest marriages, divorces, diets and cocaine addictions, I suggest the National Enquirer or People.

Ray Boucher walked out of a downtown Los Angeles courthouse six years ago the envy of the legal field. As the lead attorney in the landmark $660-million sexual-abuse settlement with the Catholic archdiocese, he had won long-denied justice for hundreds of victims and made himself and other attorneys very rich. Flanked by grateful clients, he faced a crush of cameras with the confidence of a man who had achieved a new level of professional acclaim and personal wealth. These days Boucher returns frequently to that same courthouse.

Demi Moore has filed divorce papers in response to those filed by Ashton Kutcher in December. Moore is seeking spousal support from Kutcher, reportedly the highest-paid man in television, and wants him to pay her legal fees, according to a document obtained by TMZ. The reason for the split is the old standby, irreconcilable differences, which might also describe what arose during settlement negotiations the couple had been attempting over...