The child you saved by adopting him might just save you in return. A quiet first-person story of how a married guy became a single dad to an adopted son - the wife moved on, but the boy remained. (SLYahooV)
posted by micketymoc on Aug 31, 2009 - 5 comments

Leah Ward Sears, former Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, on the destruction of fatherhood in Western society. This may sound like heresy, but I believe the United States and a host of Western democracies are engaged in an unintended campaign to diminish the importance of marriage and fatherhood. By refusing to do everything we can to stem the rising rate of divorce and unwed childbearing, our country often isolates fathers (and sometimes mothers) from their children and their families.
posted by smoothvirus on Jul 2, 2009 - 127 comments

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off. The author [Sandra Tsing Loh] is ending her marriage. Isn’t it time you did the same?
posted by you just lost the game on Jun 17, 2009 - 315 comments

Oxford Professor & Fellow of the Royal Society James Murray uses mathematical modelling to predict whether a marriage will survive or end in divorce, with 94% accuracy. His lecture to the Royal Society will be available for view on demand within two days.
posted by UbuRoivas on Mar 26, 2009 - 44 comments

"In a dimly lit corner of a Paris bar a delighted young divorcée describes in a soft voice how she spent the day throwing snowballs for the first time in her life. That is not remarkable. This is: Nujood Ali is just 10 years old."
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey on Feb 3, 2009 - 36 comments

Please don't divorce us. An emotional argument for overturning Prop 8.
posted by desjardins on Dec 26, 2008 - 112 comments

What's tougher to get than a same-sex marriage? A same-sex divorce. [more inside]
posted by anotherpanacea on Jul 25, 2008 - 32 comments

Your feel-bad story for the day: as a follow-up to this, true love evidently doesn't conquer all. That having been said, your feel-good story for the day: this guy has freaking amazing powers of emotional recuperation ...
posted by WCityMike on Jul 15, 2008 - 65 comments

Divorce can make people do things they might regret. (SLYT)
posted by msalt on Apr 16, 2008 - 96 comments

Ian Usher's divorce prompted a decision to sell his entire life to the highest bidder. You can buy his life for A$230,000: clothes, home, vehicles - even his job & friends.
posted by batmonkey on Mar 17, 2008 - 18 comments

A church in Tampa, FL has issued a 30-day sex challenge: If you're married, have sex every day (PDF of daily workbook). If you're not married, don't have sex at all (PDF of daily workbook). There's a blog, there's a billboard, there's a lot of press. [more inside]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero on Feb 27, 2008 - 213 comments

GayHappinessFilter: Early studies on the subject concluded that "heterosexual relationships may have a great deal to learn from homosexual relationships." (pdf) But even so, do gay relationships tend to end sooner? Perhaps, but according to recent research, gay and lesbian couples are just as committed in their relationships as heterosexuals. (pdf) In fact, same-sex couples are actually more satisfied with their relationships, (pdf) and reported more positive feelings toward their partners and less conflict than heterosexual married couples. (Probably just as well, since just because you can be a gay newlywed doesn’t necessarily mean you can be a gay divorcee.) So what’s the secret to gay happiness? Most likely not ”the most satisfying orgasm you can get ... pure sexuality ... almost like pure heroin,” although that’s a heck of an endorsement from a “researcher” who claims to be against it.
posted by kyrademon on Jan 24, 2008 - 35 comments

Here's the background of one of the nastiest divorce/custody/dead baby stories you're ever likely to run across. Alan Rodgers is a horror writer. This is his wikipedia entry, and this is his blog/forum at sff.net. He was originally married to Amy Stout, and together they had three children, two girls and a boy. After he tried to kill Amy Stout, she left him and married -- Me, Dan Moran. I'm the handsome dude in the eyepatch, if you click through to my profile. Together Alan and Amy #2 had a baby: Anthony Rodgers. Who died under interesting circumstances. A tragedy, I believe Alan Rodgers has called it, and by "tragedy" I suspect he means, "Thank God I wasn't prosecuted for negligent homicide." Or worse.
posted by thanotopsis on Jun 14, 2007 - 44 comments

Marriage in America: The Frayed Knot. "As the divorce rate plummets at the top of American society and rises at the bottom, the widening “marriage gap” is breeding inequality."
posted by chunking express on May 25, 2007 - 133 comments

"When a marriage dies, what should be done with the wedding ring? Until now, millions of wedding rings have been banished to remote corners of sock and underwear drawers. Now you can give these wedding rings the proper final resting place they deserve."
posted by mr_crash_davis on May 15, 2007 - 45 comments

Catchy bitter ukulele break-up song by Duncan Pflaster. Video with song. Simple and excellent. Found via Cat and Girl.
posted by LobsterMitten on Mar 30, 2007 - 27 comments

"If they want to be accepted as couples and daddies, however, the flamboyance may have to be brought under control" writes, of all people, public radio darling Garrison Keillor (first link Salon). Dan Savage responds: "F Garrison Keillor," who it turns out is an adulterer who's been married three times.
posted by bardic on Mar 14, 2007 - 150 comments

Brenda Dickson , soap opera actress, asks politely for a divorce, but is "put out on the street " by the "cowboys in mediation." Follow the exploits of this postergirl for class rage through her own press releases, here, here, and here (What It Was Like In Prison).
posted by maryh on Mar 13, 2007 - 13 comments

I Love You Kenisha. My dear sweet Kenisha, If you find this page, please forgive me for my failure to be a the kind of leader in our marriage and our home that God has called me to be. When ever you decide to come home, I'll be here waiting for you. If I'm 100 years old, and on my death bed, and you haven't come back yet, I'll still be waiting for you!!! I love you with all my heart!!!
posted by jonson on Feb 11, 2007 - 125 comments

Your husband left you? It could be worse. Divorcing couple builds a wall through the family home neither will leave. Apparently breaking up, but not moving out, is not uncommon, it is even recommended. Even among us.
posted by Methylviolet on Feb 10, 2007 - 21 comments

Calling All Wingnuts blogger Mike Stark (previously discussed here) found himself in a fight with George Allen's staffers after asking the Senator an impertinent question about his first wife and sealed divorce file and court records.
posted by homunculus on Oct 31, 2006 - 29 comments

An interesting link breaking apart the myths of religious affiliation and the divorce rate. They also take on divorce rates in interfaith couples.
posted by Kickstart70 on Oct 6, 2006 - 82 comments

the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history --meet 3 leading GOP candidates for 08. We've already read about Hillary's sexlife (or lack thereof), but will the double standard hold? ...if the top three Democratic presidential hopefuls each had extra-marital affairs in their backgrounds, it stands to reason that Republicans would have something to say about it--and if the past is any guide, those concerns would find their way into the papers. Will the same happen when it's about the "party of family values and morality"?
posted by amberglow on Jun 20, 2006 - 84 comments

Bizarre child support battle in Brooklyn A Brooklyn, New York man who stopped paying storage fees for his frozen sperm after divorcing his wife has filed suit against the sperm bank, his ex, and a notary public after learning she picked up the payments and used the sperm to get pregnant. Deon Francois, who now must pay child support, says he didn't want a child and never gave consent for the use of his sperm.
posted by halekon on Jul 27, 2005 - 110 comments

john bolton and group sex
do these revelations make him more or less qualified to serve as the united states ambassador to the UN?
posted by specialk420 on May 11, 2005 - 90 comments

Gay divorce Well, if the track record of straight marriages is any indication, this was bound to happen sooner or later. "Less than seven months after same-sex couples began tying the knot in Massachusetts, the state is seeing ts first gay divorces."
posted by livingsanctuary on Dec 10, 2004 - 20 comments

First gay divorce just in time for National Singles Week. (you know, if they were american)
posted by erisfree on Sep 15, 2004 - 15 comments

Women Lose When Feminists Bash "Men generally don't like to complain. A man will endure ridicule and abuse, and then move on with his life. But abuse him once too often, and he will vote with his feet. And one day, men woke up to the fact that marriage was a losing proposition. The math was hard to refute: Half of all marriages wind up in divorce. In 85% of cases, mothers gained custody of the children. And sometimes, bitter ex-wives would try to turn the children against their father, what psychologists call Parental Alienation Syndrome. In the face of such dismal odds, men decided to go on a Marriage Strike. "
posted by SpaceCadet on Mar 30, 2004 - 72 comments

www.helpjohngetdivorced.com "I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't pissed off at my future ex-wife, however, I am not bitter about our divorce. Quite the contrary I would like to move on with my life, but she is not allowing this."
posted by wuakeen on Jan 7, 2004 - 8 comments

Made a terrible mistake in Las Vegas? Just say "talaq, talaq, talaq"
posted by kodas on Jul 27, 2003 - 6 comments

Every Unhappy Family Has Its Own Bilinear Influence Function.
posted by semmi on Apr 25, 2003 - 19 comments

Help me leave my husband. No, not me. A woman named Peggy from Seattle, Washington saw Save Karyn and decided to do the same thing to help end her marriage. more inside..
posted by SuzySmith on Sep 18, 2002 - 57 comments

Help Jack Welch buy a newspaper Papers filed in the divorce of former General Electric chief Jack Welch contend that GE agreed to provide the executive enormous perks for life: access to corporate aircraft, use of a Manhattan apartment, Knicks floor-level seats, satellite TV at his four homes...plus costs... from wine and food to laundry, toiletries and newspapers, certain dining bills at the restaurant Jean Georges. Good for him: but hasn't executive compensation reached a bizarre detachment from actual performance? (sorry, AFL-CIO link)?Unless of course you're a woman (Businessweek.com link, conservative-safe)
posted by matteo on Sep 6, 2002 - 4 comments

Divorce, in the situation of an unhappy marriage, does not necessarily lead to happiness... Does this throw doubt on our culture of individualism and the pursuit of happiness? Maybe we should stop being self-obsessed and stick it out
posted by zia on Jul 11, 2002 - 18 comments

Does the Internet lead you astray?? Is Internet addiction leading to the breakup of marriages or is it just the time and the age of the folks breaking up?? Or is this a plague of starter marriages which has nothing to do with the Net???
posted by gloege on Apr 16, 2002 - 14 comments

"More in that disgusting Kerkorian divorce case: a cost breakdown at The Smoking Gun." -- (Elena Pauline)
posted by jacobw on Jan 16, 2002 - 20 comments

Divorce: Not So Bad For Kids? this report, detailed by USA Today says "After studying almost 1,400 families and more than 2,500 children. — some of them for three decades — trailblazing researcher E. Mavis Hetherington. finds that about 75% to 80% of children from divorced homes are 'coping reasonably well and functioning in the normal range.' Eventually they are able to adapt to their new lives." Of course, many of us with single parents could have probably told you this a long time ago but here are numbers, controversial to the "pro-family" establishment of course.
posted by owillis on Jan 14, 2002 - 17 comments

Juanita Jordan files for divorce. MJ's wife cites irreconcilible differences. What does this mean for his sponsorship careers? Does (should?) marital status make a difference in role-modeling?
posted by MeetMegan on Jan 8, 2002 - 21 comments

Singapore bans divorce via SMS. I think what weirds me out most about this is that apparently it's still legal in Dubai... and not infrequent.
posted by louie on Dec 20, 2001 - 5 comments

Tom Green prooves he's a freak yet again by divorsing Drew Barrymore. I'm not saying that Drew's a goddess, but anyone who flashes David Letterman on TV is okay in my book. Perhaps this crushing blow to his psyche will keep Tom from writing/staring in another movie like "Freddy Got Fingered."
posted by rev- on Dec 17, 2001 - 33 comments

The estate of a divorced father is freed from paying a failing son's tuition. Basically, the ruling establishes (at least in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) that children have obligations to parents. OK, if you want your parents to pay for your college education, you should at least try to graduate. But what are the other consequences of this ruling? What's the point at which a child's bad behavior releases a parent from their obligations as a parent? If your divorced dad is the Great Santini, can he cut off your child support if you hit him back?
posted by dchase on Apr 20, 2001 - 2 comments

Following "The Rules"? One of the co-authors of "The Rules" is getting divorced, even as the third book in the series -- Rules III: Time-Tested Secrets for Making Your Marriage Work-- goes to press.
posted by darren on Mar 23, 2001 - 16 comments

Out of more (kinda) sad news, a possible ray of hope.

Maybe love can build a bridge between these two now...
posted by chicobangs on Aug 18, 2000 - 1 comment

Darva the gold-digger wants out is anyone surprised? It was a matter of time...
posted by palegirl on Feb 23, 2000 - 13 comments