Archive for June, 2008

Rumours have been doing the rounds of late that glamorous old lady Madonna and her UK film director husband Guy Ritchie are to divorce. It’s hardly surprising really, she’s getting on some and the lure of an older, more experienced woman might be fine when you’re a teenager; but when she’s pushing 50 it’s a little cringe worthy.

However is does mean that Maddy will be back on the market again, so lock up your husbands, fathers and sons… she’s not fussy how young or old they are.

I do hope there was a pre-nup there too, but according to reports Madonna is turning to Macca’s divorce lawyer who helped him get away with just paying £24 million… ouch indeed.

Clive Bellmore

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This Sunday, on Father’s day, father of two Brian Philcox took his two children out for the day and then murdered them and killed himself by filling their car with carbon monoxide. Brian was going through a very messy divorce according to his friends. His children, Owen (3) and Amy (7) were both found dead with their father in his car in North Wales.

He’d picked them up that morning from their home in Cheshire.

The incredible thing is that Brian Philcox has children from previous relationships, so he’s left behind children without a father.

What is it about divorce that drives some people to do this sort of thing? Also, with Brian killing himself and his two children it’s harmed the chances of other fathers who are struggling to have access to their children. Understandably mothers who were reluctant to let the fathers have unsupervised access will be even more hesitant to do so now.

Clive Bellmore

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If you run your own business and are self employed, getting divorced can be even more expensive. You run the risks of losing your own business in the financial settlement as you try to scrape together enough money to pay off your ex. This means that you’ll often be required to cut costs in order to survive.

One way you can do this is to save money on your offices by opting for a rented office only when you need it. For example rather than hire out an office full time, you could use one of the office companies that have sites all over the UK, including London, to hire out offices and meeting rooms just when you need to use them.

This way you could run your business from home and still give the impression of being in an office if you need to meet with clients at any time.

It’s a way to save money without losing the professionalism of your business, ideal if you’re self employed and are finding it difficult to operate with the financial constraints of an expensive divorce.

Clive Bellmore

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As the Fathers 4 Justice are currently protesting long and hard about the access fathers have to their children in the UK, we thought it would be fun to look back at one of their legendary stunts. This is where they stormed a live broadcast of the National Lottery draw on BBC1.

It most definitely could be you!

Clive Bellmore

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What do you get the father who has everything for Father’s Day? Oooh, how about a divorce? That’s sure to please your dad. It would have pleased me.

A radio station in Canada, The Fan 590, is running a contest for Father’s Day offering to give your dad a divorce. The slogan on the radio station’s website read:

It’s the perfect gift for the man who has everything, and doesn’t want it.

If you’re struggling to find something original for Father’s Day, don’t bother with the socks, gardening gloves or the slippers… get him what he really wants, his life back!

This represents the turn of the tide with regards to divorce in our time. No longer is it taboo, it’s become a marketing goldmine; an industry that companies are looking to exploit. For example, the divorced market need to buy and sell property, they need new cars, new wardrobes and holidays. It’s a burgeoning market.

Ruth Winker is the promotions manager for the radio station:

I don’t think we are trivializing divorce. We’re accepting of it. It’s a reality.

The contest is real says Ms. Winker, it’s not a hoax and they’re really hoping to award some lucky dad with the Father’s Day gift of his dreams.

It would be grown children who are doing this for their father. It’s not meant for young children.

Hopefully this will catch on and the product will make it into the high street.

Clive Bellmore

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The Fathers 4 Justice were at it again this weekend when they climbed on the roof of the deputy leader of the labour party’s house, Harriet Harman. The two protesters were dressed in their standard F4J super hero outfits, this time as Captain Conception and Cash Gordon.

In true F4J style the duo garnered a massive amount of media website with their protest and are looking to force the government into changing the way that fathers are treated in the UK. Currently, thanks to the Child Support Agency, fathers are treated as cash cows rather than as fathers. This has led to a great many complaints against the CSA from different sources.

You can read more about the Fathers 4 Justice protest here.

Clive Bellmore

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I’ve been running this website about divorce for a few months now, writing about various aspects to getting divorced, legal advice, CSA and other things. In that time I’ve had a considerable amount of traffic from people looking for information online to help them in their divorce.

But… and I stress but, I’ve had some pretty stupid people find this website judging by what they were searching on. For example, just this month someone found takemywifeplease.co.uk by searching on:

will my wife change her mind about divorce afterwards

WTF? How the hell does that guy expect Google to know? Was he thinking some great big ‘YES’ would show up? Buddy, if you’re that stupid your wife was bound to leave you, let her go.

Then I had some find this website by searching on:

wife wants divorce does wife pay my lawyer

Not quite so stupid, but still very idealistic. No pal, your wife doesn’t pay for you lawyer. In fact, you’ll probably end up paying for hers.

Then there was this one:

piss off cafcass

Well said sir, well said indeed!

Also we had this imbecile:

will my wife change

er, yes mate. She will. What are you, some kind of moron? You’re asking a search engine if your wife will change. What do you think?

How about this one:

how can i prove my affection to my wife

Well mate, try hiring a seventeen year old Swedish au pair, that always go downs well with wives. That will prove your affection for her. Idiot.

Finally, cos I really could go on here, there’s this one:

my partner shouts and swear i want a divorce what are my rights

Oh my giddy aunt. He shouts and swears? And Google should care why? These people really need to learn how to use the Internet. It can’t tell you if your wife will change her mind after a divorce, it’s not an oracle.

Clive Bellmore

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Only in America could something like this happen. People who get married loads of times and joke that it’s just because they like the taste of wedding cake can now have their cake and eat it; their divorce cake that is.

Suzanne Maxwell from Texas has recently found a new niche for her bakery. This one relies on the fact that many marriages end in divorce, so why not have a cake to celebrate? Her company, the ‘Lovin’ Oven Bakery’ has become successful from making wedding cakes up until now, but all that could soon change.

The idea came from a suggestion from one of her customers who wanted a wedding cake for her divorce, so why not make that a business in itself?

Maxwell herself is married, and presumably quite happily, though she’s produced a few dozen of her new divorce cakes since the business venture started.

Ironically, or perhaps not, most of the divorce cakes have been ordered by women. So far only one man has placed an order for her divorce cake. Presumably because after a divorce, no man can actually afford the cake in the first place.

Clive Bellmore

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You’ve heard of wedding fairs, where women and their mothers go to chooser how much money they’re going to waste on a wedding dress, cake, flowers and that sort of junk? Well now for the first time in the UK there will be a divorce fair.

Spot on.

The divorce fair is designed to offer couples heading for the matrimonial gutter everything they need in order to split up effectively, such as solicitors, mortgage advisers and presumable hit-men and hookers thrown in. In all there are about 90 exhibitors set to attend the one-day divorce fair.

Forty-four year old Suzy Miller organised the event.

People say, ‘I wish something like this was around when I broke up’. There will be an emphasis on wellbeing.

The divorce fair takes place at Brighton Racecourse on the eleventh of October.

The show has been titled ‘the Starting Over Show’. I can’t wait!

Clive Bellmore

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For some years now kids in the UK have had sex education lessons, now they’re about to get lessons in divorce as well. Currently in the US, in 28 different states, divorce lessons for children are compulsory, and now pilot schemes have been created in England; and it’s been suggested for Scotland as well.

The scheme is being touted by the American divorce expert Christina McGhee. She hosts the C4 TV show “How to Divorce Without Screwing up Your Children”, and she’s pushing for the lessons for Scottish children so that they can better cope with the prospect of divorce between their parents.

She hopes that by educating children on divorce it will benefit some 50,000 kids in Scotland who may go through the ordeals of having their parents split up every year.

I’m not sure how I feel about this, teaching children about divorce if their parents are happily married could scare them into thinking that mum and dad will seperate.

Clive Bellmore

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