With more and more fathers taking responsibility for their children there has been a rise in playgroups for dad’s, this is great for single dad’s who aren’t accepted at women’s only playgroups.

Although there are many playgroups there are still some for women only, the good thing about women’s only groups is they can share their experiences as Mums, some of these details and conversations would make dad’s feel uncomfortable, or women uncomfortable to talk in front of men.

Realising that men want to be active dad’s and more men are becoming full time dad’s or the sole carer, meant that a need for a playgroup for men came about. Play groups are excelent places for your kids to meet other children and socialise, but also time for parents to meet other parents.

Single Dad’s often feel the need to meet other dad’s and from sharing stories they can get tips and feel supported when bringing up a child a lone. Even dad’s who are still in happy relationships have benefited from these playgroups to meet other dad’s.

If you are a single dad and have some stories to share, why not join our forum.

We found this video on YouTube the other day and thought it was really funny divorce letter, it starts off as a mans letter to his wife explaining why he was leaving her. He explains how she was an un caring wife and they never slept together anymore even when he makes an effort with silk boxer shorts and making her favourite meal. He explains that when her work called to sy she had quit her job he decided it was the last straw and was leaving with her sister.

The video then goes on to the wife’s side of the story, she explains how happy she is to receive the letter and hear they will be getting divorced!

If you have any funny stories about getting divorced or seperated then share it in our divorce forum!

If you are new to My Mad Ex you may think we’re the mad one’s and not our ex’s! We like to have fun and although we have been through a lot either from separation or Divorce we want to look positively at the future.

My Mad Ex was devised after a number of friends, who had all recently come to the end of serious releationships, were discussing online resources for Divorce and separation support. Today most people go online to look for advice and help, it is easy, fast and if you want can be annonymous.

When looking online we found a lot of resources to help you through your divorce or seperation at different stages but there was no where to have a bit of fun and escape.

This is where the My Mad Ex forum came from, a place to have some fun, meet other people in the same situation, this way you can share your experiences and support each other.

We also have our resident experts to help you get your life back on track, so before you know it you will be in amuch better place emotionally. Our forum is the ideal place to get things off your chest, rant about your ex in confidence, have some fun and even get a bit x rated .

Join the My Mad Ex Divorce forum and start your journey to recovery.

25% of UK children are being raised by a lone parent or in a single parent family, these statistics are actually forcast to increase! Although single parent families are becoming more normal but there is still a lot of stigma around lone parents and their circumstances.

The most common single parent families are from the break down of a relationship, either separation or divorce but these days other factors include;

• Parent who has suffered the death of a partner
• Parent was abandoned by a partner
• Adoption of a child as a single parent.
• Fertility treatments cush as sperm donation and IVF as a single parent
• Use of a surrogate to bring up a child alone
• Unexpected pregnancy carried to full term alone

Although single parent families are becoming much more common there are still stereotypes associated with bringing up a child alone.

The typical lone parent is a female, young and inexperienced, a bit trashy and common, grabbing benefits and jobless having more children by different dads to get more benefits which she probably spends on booze, fags and drugs.

This stereotype is backed up by the media who constantly show stories of benefit mums and single parent families who’s kids are on drugs because thats all they know.

In reality, this is only a small proportion of single parent families, many lone parents work very hard to give their children the best, although most single parents are women many dads are also single parents with full custody.

My Mad Ex is trying to break through some of those stereotypes to show the real story, we also want to have some fun! Being a lone parent can be hard and help and support isn’t always available, My Mad Ex is a place to get support and also escape a bit.

If you have stories to share or want to meet other single parents go to our forum and join the conversation.

This is a sensational and quite disturbing story so if you are faint hearted stop reading now, but a 10 year old girl forced to marry in Yemen when she was 9 is filing for a divorce. This controversial story is challenging Yemen’s traditions on marriage, as the young girls experience is possibly not un common.

When Nujood Ali was only 9 years old, her parents arranged for her to marry a man in his 30’s, this may seem unusual to us, but is actually legal and quite common in Yemen where there is no minimum age to get married. However it is illeagal for a man – even in wedlock- to have sex with his bride before she has reached puberty.

This is the law, however Nujood experienced a traumatic time as her in laws beat her and her husband forced himself on her. The brave young girl only managed to escape this ordeal by saving the equivalent of 50p to get a taxi after she was visiting her parent. She took a taxi to a local courtroom to ask a judge if she could get a divorce.

With very little money it was going to be tough job for Ali Nujood to get a divorce but the story reached human rights activist and feminist lawyer, Shada Nasser who took on the case for free.

Ali Nujood was granted a divorce on the grounds that her husband raped her but this is the story that is told of the young wives of Yemen. Nujood has released a book sharing her experiences and this story has led campaigners to fight for the legal age to get married in Yemen to be set at 17. A quarter of girls in Yemen are married by their 15th birthday but not all of the community are supportive of the actions.

Many people of Yemen and the Muslim communities are rioting against the Governments potential move to put in an age restriction on marriage. They have been picketing with banners saying “Don’t ban what Allah made permissible”.

What do you think? Do you think traditions should stay as they are? Could this just be an extreme case where a child has been mistreated but others live long and happy marriages? Do you think it is a violation of human rights and child protection should look after these young girls?

Have your say in our Divorce Forum.

When you get married, very few people think about the possibility of Divorce. Well, not unles you have a lot more to loose than your heart! Pre nuptial agreements are the norm amongst the rich and famous in America, but pre nup agreements aren’t actually legal in the UK. A recent Divorce dispute between Mr Nicholas Granatino, 38, a former investment banker, and heiress Katrin Radmacher, is causing the legislative authorities to re think the power of a pre nup agreement.

In the case of Nicholas Granatino and Katrin Radmacher, Granatino claims he had no idea when he signed the pre nup that his wife to be actually was heiress of over £100,000,000 pounds, he just thought she was well off! He feels that because he was misled the agreement should be deemed void. However, as with all divorce cases, things get even more complicated as there are children involved and they were married for 12 years – not the style of a gold digger to stick around for that long.

In the UK the pre nup isn’t actually legal, although is considered by judges in deciding appropriate splits of assets. Another celebrity couple who signed a pre nup in the UK are Katie Price and Peter Andre, however this was never disputed during the divorce so their was no need to question the legalities.

Pre nup agreements can be taken in two ways, some people think that by signing a pre nup you are proving your love for the person, other people think it shows a lack of trust from the person requesting the pre nup. What do you think? Would you sign a pre nup? Have you signed or requested a pre nup before marriage? Are you pleased Pre nups may soon be recognised as a legal agreement in the UK?

Discuss your opinions in our Divorce forum!

Cheryl Cole, announced in February that she had split up from her husband Ashley Cole , and is now in two minds as to whether she should  start divorce proceedings against her cheating footballer ex.

Cheryl Cole  has been keeping up a brave face, even hours after Ashleys infidelty was in the newspapers she got up and performed on the Brits and this weekend managed to keep smiling throughout her appearance on Sport Relief. But is the nations sweetheart thinking about making the separation more permanent and finally preparing to divorce estranged husband Ashley Cole?

The singer who’s most famous song ‘fight for this love’ has been a loyal wife through reports of her husband cheating on her with more than 4 different women. It seems Cherly Cole (Tweedy) can’t find any more and is hoping for a clean break from the marriage. Newspapers have also said that she doesn’t want any of his money and is hoping things won’t get too ‘messy’.

Rumours have it that Cheryl has met with infamous divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton over the past few weeks but she is waiting another 6 month until after the World Cup before starting formal divorce proceedings. Fiona Shackleton was thrown into the limelight herself after she represented both Prince Charles and Sir Paul McCartney in theie divorce’s.

It is very gracious of Cheryl Cole to wait until after the World Cup before she starts Divorce proceedings, Ashely is hopiong his ankle will be healed in time to play in the WorldCup and a Divorce from Miss Tweedy would certainly affect training.

Cheryl announced her separation from Ashley on Twitter in February;

At the time, her PR company tweeted: “Cheryl Cole is separating from her husband Ashley Cole. Cheryl asks the media to respect her privacy during this difficult time.”

However, it has been revealed that Cheryl changed this tweet last minute in the hopes of giving her marriage another go;

The original draft is said to have read: “Cheryl Cole has announced the end of her marriage to Ashley Cole. Great efforts have been made to make the marriage work but they have failed.

What do you think? Do you think Cheryl should give her Ex another go? Should she get rid of him? Discuss Cherly Cole’s Divorce in our My Mad Ex Divorce Forum.

Unfortunatley these days it is not un common for people to get Divorced, and there are many divorce support websites up to help people deal with getting Divorced but what about people who are separated or were never married but in a long term commited relationship?

Marriage is a long term commitment but many couples choose to live together and commit to each other without getting married. More and more people are choosing to have children and live together without actually getting married so what do they do if the relationship comes to an end?

The end of a long term relationship is just as hard as getting divorced and sometimes harder as their are questions on who should get what and how to deal with separation. Divorce advice is all over the internet but separation advice is much harder to find!

Separation has less legal formalities to go through but in the cases where you have children, it can be much harder to come to an agreement about seeing the children and this can also end in a nasty court battle if not resolved quickly and civily.

My Mad Ex understands how hard it is for people at the end of a releationship you get hurt and don’t know how to act or cope, this is no different whether you were married or in a long term relationship there are very few civil break iups and just after is the hardest time.

If you are recently separated join others in the same position as you in our divorce/separation forum as this is a great place to share experiences, have a rant, get advice and even meet new friends.

The Credit Crunch has been difficult on a lot of people and being faced with money problems and redundancies can put a toil on a marriage. So has the economic climate had an affect on Divorces?

There have been various studies on Divorce rates in times of depression, looking at post war and the 80’s credit crunch there seems to be differences on how much the economy can affect marital relationships. However what this does not take into account is the differences in beliefs at these times.

The media is full of stories and divorce news telling us conflicting information about how more or less people are getting divorced and this is being blamed on everything from the credit crunch to the food we eat and TV we watch but what is the story?

After the second world war many people were grateful to be with their loved ones, and having faced the thought of losing them to death, divorce rates seemed fairly low in comparison to the poverty. This also needs to take into account that couples in the 1950’s had much more traditional beliefs and a divorce may have seen you as a social outcast.

In the 80’s the rate of divorce was much higher than in the 50’s but the revolutions in the 60’s and 70’s meant it was much more acceptable to be a single parent or a divorcee. When not faced with difficulties of being outcast by friends and family it is easy to get divorced and live a normal life after divorce.

2 years ago in 2008 Britain was officially put into a recession and we have seen couples faced with extreme hardships and redundancies. Similar to the 80’s the high house prices did have an affect on the credit crunch and because of this many couples are finding it difficult to split up for fear that they will lose everythig. Mortgages are so high that to leave your partner you may be putting an extreme financial strain on yourself.

So far in the past 2 years their still has been an increase in people filing for divorce but this is only slight and perhaps only normal growth.

If you look at Google google will show you that their have actually been slightly less searches for divorce in the past few years with slight peaks in the new year. However marriages have been searched for much less over the past few years.

It is difficult to see how divorce has been affected by recession until we get more information and use this with other evidence. But what do you think?

Do you think the recession has caused more couples to split up, perhaps people who are living together and are not married have been hit the hardest?

Have your say by joining our divorce forum.