Weird Divorce

It’s been a weird week for divorcees, starting with an Indian couple from Pune near Mumbai. After years of arguments over the wife’s penchant for Hindi soap operas, the husband finally barred her from watching them any more. She promptly filed for a divorce, which was granted on the grounds of his “cruel treatment” of her (World News AU).

Next is the case of the divorce granted to the Chinese couple who had not seen each other since their wedding, three years previously. The ceremony took place in China’s Machong district and was the result of an arranged marriage by the parents of the couple, called Ma and Mo, who were good friends. But Ma, the groom, left for a job elsewhere straight after and the newlyweds did not even try to stay in touch. With no children or property to argue over, the divorce went fairly uneventfully (China Daily).

Staying in China for a moment, Shoutsee Li and Han Fucheng of that country’s Mentougou district are hoping a judge will annul their marriage so they can marry again, this time legally. The couple originally married in 2006 after meeting nine years earlier, but Li was in China under false papers and now faces deportation. But while the police don’t recognise Han and Li’s marriage, the registrar does, and will not let them remarry until their current marriage is dissolved (People’s Daily).

Not so likely to remarry are recently separated couple Robin Williams and Anthony Hull of Kingsfold in England. Attempts to reach an agreement on how to divide their £500,000 ($850k) house have stalled amid arguments over who keeps the cheese grater and whether paint pots are communal property. The couple have now taken their grievances to Britain’s High Court (Daily Express).

Also in court this week was Stanley G. Hilton of Hillsborough, CA who is suing San Francisco, its airport, every airline that uses it, and the manufacturers of the airplanes landing there for $15 million each for ruining his marriage. All in all Hilton, a former attorney (now disbarred), cites 37 parties as contributing to the breakdown of relations with his wife, which amounts to a cool $555 million in the unlikely event that he wins (Wired).

And Hilton’s not the only lawyer looking for a payout, according to some reports, a few are recommending that people divorce now, while their assets are still depressed in value due to the recession, rather than wait and risk paying out more later (The Star).

In fact, while the previous article states that divorce rates go up during a recession, due to the extra strain on the marriage of any financial problems, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers have said that the rates are actually going down. Many couples, they claim, are choosing to wait out the recession in broken marriages rather than take on more risk in these uncertain times (Washington Times).

But if you are untying the knot this winter, why not do so in style with a “divorce cake” like the ones sold by Fay Millar of Brighton, England? From the husband kicking his ex off the cake to a woman stabbing her former partner in the back, complete with blood red icing, Ms Millar sells a cake for every circumstance (Daily Mail).

Also looking to recent divorcees to boost their business are a number of churches across America. “DivorceCare: Surviving the Holidays” is billed as low-risk, low-commitment way for the recently separated to connect with the church, and includes video presentations and biblically based seminars on topics like loneliness and depression (PRWeb).

And if church is not your thing perhaps you’d like Reiki practitioner Amy Flynn to perform remote energy healing on your body’s natural energetic system to promote “wealth, abundance and joy” after your divorce? Though exactly whose wealth benefits most, yours or Ms Flynn’s, is perhaps open to question (Examiner).

(Image source: GroomGroove.com, everything a man about to marry should know.)