Social networking and social media has revolutionised the way we conduct ourselves and so much of our information is out there for people to see than ever before. This could be good or bad, but for many couples going through a divorce this could be fatal for their case as Divorce Attorneys and Lawyers are now using social networking profiles as evidence in court.

Browsing through the internet this morning I found this article on Sexy Social Media.com, Social media has always intrigued me as it can provide a lifeline for many people, but on the other hand gives people enough rope to hang themselves. The latter seems to be the case in this instance as a Tweet or Facebook update sent in a moment of frustration could be used against you in a court of law.

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and some forums have become more popular with people of all ages and are a useful tool to are intended to act as online communities where people can meet and share information about themselves. This information is often public therfore more people than just your online friends may have access to your photos and comments on your day to day activities. By having this information publicly accessible then it can be used in a court of law!

This can get very dangerous as many people use social networks to rant about a situation, especially tweets and facebook status updates. What you would normally say in the heat of the moment to a friend is now written down and can be used against you, even if it was just a flippant remark that you didn’t mean to be taken in that way, or after you had calmed down maybe thought better of.

From the sexy social media site apparently 81% of Divorce lawyers have seen a significant increase in the use of Facebook and other social networking sites as evidence in divorce cases. Photos of a partner on a night out could be used to try to discredit them and show them in a bad light, or to try to prove adultery in some messy divorces. Normally many divorces end with a lot of bad feeling but not all cases resort to digging around for evidence however with such information readily available your Mad Ex may be stalking your facebook gathering information to use against you. Common ones are if a father is refusing to pay child maintenance due to having no money yet posts lots of photos of himself on holiday or nights out he may post that he has bought himself a new playstation 3 or car.

If you are going through a messy divorce then you should consider taking down any information that could be used against you, try to delete and evidence and make sure friends don’t tag you in any photos that couold be construed as being bad. You may consider deleting your profile completely. Some people have commented that the temptation to stalk your ex on Facebook and Twitter has meant that more exes have been crossing over to that bunny boiling mad ex persona.

At My Mad Ex we provide a forum for people to vent their anger and share their stories, we recommend you don’t get too specific and use a name that can’t be traced back to you.

What are your thoughts on this blog? Do you think social media has increased the temptation of exes stalking? Do you stalk your ex? Has your ex used your public profiles against you in an argument or even in court? Have you? Discuss this and more at the My Mad Ex Divorce forum.

The minister of population and family in Egypt has reportedly stated that rising divorce rates are  damaging to modern society.  An Egyptian paper, the al-Masry al-Youm daily, covered the story stating that Moushira Khattab felt divorce rates in Egypt had increased to ‘Dangerous levels’ and this strain would mean a collapse of Egyptian society!
Moushira Khattab, minister for population and family, was at a workshop in Cairo at the National Center for Social and Criminal Studies this week when she made the statement. She continued on saying that if the country had better laws for gender equality and the protection of children then this support would help families stay together and not need to divorce. She also spoke out against domestic violence adding that more support should be given rather than couples just splitting up.

In Egypt coupleshave to marry under religious law,  however over the past few years the Egyptian divorce rates have increased by a staggering 40% between the ages of 18 and 29. These figures were released from a study caried out by the Center for Public Mobilization and Statics.

As Egyptians marry under religious law, the majority of Egyptians being Muslim means that Islamic shariah law is applied to marriages. When divorce is considered many women’s rights groups feel that Islamic law is in favour of men in these circumstances, and many other situations.

Egypt does have a Coptic Christian minority which therefore falls under church rules, this means someone who has been married may not re marry after a divorce except in very specific cases. In 2000 a law was passed that granted Egyptian women the right to divorce their husbands without the husbands consent, however by doing this they forfeit any financial rights in a settlement. This has obviously caused quite a stir amongst more conservative groups in the country.

So what do you think? Do you think Moushira Khattab has overeacted with her statement that divorce is a ‘danger’ to society? Do you think that she has a point considering the laws surrounding Egyptian marriage and divorce? We want to hear your thoughts at the My Mad Ex Divorce forum.

If you have been through a divorce recently you may have had a nasty Divorce settlement that has left you pretty skint, or perhaps you think your partner took an unfair amount of your money? Spare a thought for these 10 divorcees who had to shell out billions!

Here are the top 10 highest divorce settlements to date:

• Rupert Murdoch and Anna Murdoch – $1.7 billion
  Rupert married Anna in the 60s, and after 32 years of marriage, three children and lots of media speculation the pair separated in 1998. The split was said to be amicable and the divorce went through in June 1999 when Anna Murdoch left with $1.7 billion. Only 17 days after his divorce was finalised Rupert Murdoch married Wendi Deng.
• Adnan and Soraya Khashoggi – $874 million
  Adnan Khashoggi is a Saudi businesman who made his money as an international arms dealer working for the Saudi royal family. His riches increased as he set up a company in Switzerland, Triad, that tok over banks, hotels and real estate all over the world. Adnan married his former wife Soraya in 1961 but in 1982 their divorce cost him a staggering $874 million, bear in mind this was 28 years ago and due to inflation was probably worth more than todays millions.
• Craig and Wendy McCaw – $460 million
  Craig McCaw is an entrepeneur worthy of Dragons Den status as he made his money turning businesses around and growing them to sell on at huge profits. His first success was a TV cable service which Craig turned into successful business and sold for $755 million. In 1981 he had the forsight to aquire cellular phone licenses, which he was able to sell to a phone company AT&T for  $12 billion, becoming its largest single shareholder.
  Craig and Wendy were University sweethearts who met at Stanford University when Wendy tutored Craig, they married in 1974. In 1995 the divorce went through and Wendy’s significant pay out was allowed as she had to support the lifestyle she was now used to, costing appoximately $200,000 a month!
• Roman and Irina Abramovich – $300 million
  Roman and Irina Abromovich were in the media alot during their divorce proceedings and many speculated that the settlement could have left Irena as the world’s richest ever divorcee. However Russian news sources suggeest that Mrs Abramovich settled for $300m (£155m). The $300m figure included the value of the couples homes in Britain and Moscow, as well as ownership of a yacht and private plane. It seems Roman Abramovich got away quite lightly as at one point many thought he would have to pay out at least $1 billion.
• Michael and Maya Polsky – $184 million
  Energy Magnate Michael Polsky married Maya in the Ukraine in 1975 and reports have said that after they married they traveled to America with only 4 suitcases and $500 cash to find their dreams. Things seemed to go well for the couple until their split in 2003 where Maya filed for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. In 2006 after a long and drawn out divorce battle a judge in Chicago ruled that Maya Polsky should be entitled to half of the couples assets and she was awarded $184million!
• John ‘Jack’ Welch and Jane Beasley – $180 million
  John ‘Jack’ Welch was the Chairman and CEO of General Electric, the worlds largest technology and service conglomerate which is based in New York. Mr and Mrs Beasley married in April 1989, and divorced 14 years later in 2003. Reports say that Welch hadwritten a prenuptial agreement, however the prenupt had a 10-year time limit. Those extra four years of marriage entitled Jane Beaslet to walk away with $180 million.
• Michael and Juanita Jordan – $168million
  In 2007 the former Chicago Bulls Basketball player Michael Jordan divorced his wife of 18 years in a celebrity fuelled media fest that had everyone wondering how much he would have to pay his former spouse. Juanita Vanoy had previously filed for a divorce in 2002 but apparently the couple had made the marriage work for a further 5 years before eventually splitting for good. Juanita agreed a settlement but reports suggest that Michael and Juanita negotiated an additional $20 million to be added to the final sum after the settlement was agreed in principal.
• Neil Diamond and Marcia Murphey – $150 million
  This wasn’t the first divorce singing legend Neil Diamond has had to shell out for as he was actually still married to his first wife when he met Marcia Murphey in 1994.
  Their isn’t much information over the cause of the split or how the settlement was agreed but Neil Diamond claims he was happy to give his ex wife the money.
• Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving – $100 million
  Both stars in their own rights Amy Irving was thrown into the limelight in 1976 when she played the lone teen survivor in the classic movie Carrie. Spielberg got his big break in in Hollywood after the production of the film Jaws and has gone on to make many succesful blockbuster movies. The couple married in 1985, however the marriage didn’t last long and the couple split up only four years later. Irving, the mother of their son Max was awarded $100 million from Spielberg.
• John and Beverly Charman – $95 million
  These childhood sweethearts met at School in1969 they married in 1976 with no real wealth or assets. However by the time of their split in November 2003 John Charman had been dubbed “King of the London Insurance Market”, Mr Charman reportedly told his wife he was leaving for Bermuda and their marriage was over. The divorce got messy after John Charman offered his ex wife £6 million cash, however Beverly argued this was not enough. After many court hearings a  judge decided a fair settlement would be for John Charman to give Beverly  37 per cent of his assets. Mr Charman apealed but this was quickly dismissed, this is thought to be the highest divoce settlement in Britain to date.

There are many other celebrity marriages on the rocks and many of these high sums were from years ago, we will see if the likes of Tiger Woods will soon be topping the Divorce settlement charts after his infidelity. What are your thoughts? Discuss at the My Mad Ex Divorce Forum.

The summer holidays should be a fun time for families, spending time with the kids and better weather, but the summer holidays can be one of the biggest times of the year for couples separating.

January has the highest yearly divorce rates but September is close behind, so what is is about holidays that seem to make more people split up and get separated or divorced?

Does the hot weather get you hot under the collar? Do short skirts in summer months tempt huspands and partners to stray? Most people think that the added strain of spending a lot of time with your family dusing holidays is a factor to speed up a relationship that is heading for divorce. Summer holidays is a stressful time when families are pushed together and their is the expectance that you will go on holidays together.

This corresponds with the figures from Christmas break ups where you are often confined not only with your immediate family but also extended families. This with money worries can often antagonise a relationship and be the trigger that pushes a couple to separate or divorce.

In the summer holidays many couples have to put their children first, if you children go to school, you have to take time off work to look after them or find additional money for childcare. This can cause arguments as many companies will not let you have 6 weeks off all year let a lone just for summer as well as the half terms, easter, and Christmas holidays. This means couples have to juggle time off, enlist in help from friends and relatives or shell out on childcare which can be very expensive per child. These pressures are difficult to get through at the best of times ut if your relationship is already a bit rocky then this would explain the increase in separations and divorce after the summer holidays.

What do you think contributes to Summer separations? Did you split with your ex over the summer holidays? Do you think other factors are involved that we haven’t looked at? Discuss this and more at the My Mad Ex Divorce and Separation forum. To discuss Summer separations go to the individual forum discussion!

According to experts the falling economy has hit couples harder than anticipated and 2 million divorces are said to complete this year. Apparently much of this problem is because wealthy, and not so wealthy,  husbands can no longer afford to buy their wives gifts to keep them happy!

From surveys completed in the January they expect to see a surge of divorces this year and many lawyers reported divorces were inistiated in order to secure cash before the recession hits hard.

A divorce lawyer at SAS Daniels, Maria Taylor says:

“The bubble has burst: couples who thought they could get through their difficulties or an economic blip, and were delaying divorce, have realised the credit crunch is long term and can wait no longer.”

Mishcon family partner Sandra Davis said: “Couples who papered over the cracks with open chequebooks are now seeing those cracks as full fault lines.”

I’m sure the increase in divorces and seperations isn’t all to do with the recession but money problems and the stuggles of paying bills and mortgages or rent just make any problems that are already underlying in a relationship much worse. Tensions in a household can get so much worse if you have the added stress of redundancies and unemployment.

So what do you think? Has your relationship broken down from the added struggle of money issues? Discuss your own relationship stories at the My Mad Ex Divorce forum.

Californian wives have started to hire hitmen to kill off their husbands rather than face the idea that their husbands could benefit from a lucrative divorce settlement. This problem has gotten so bad that Californian politicians (headed up by Governor of California the original Terminator Hitman Arnold Schwarzenegger) are trying to find ways to stop women resorting to such methods.

The new laws that Californian politicians are trying to move forward came about after the problem was highlighted when police detective John Pomroy was plotted against by his wife to be murdered. The L.A. Police detective  was having what can only be described as a ‘difficult break up’ from his wife, who hired an infamous motorcycle gang in the area, the Vagos, to kill Pomroy whilst he was on duty.

Her plan fell through due to the fact that the men she approached to kill her husbandwere undercover police officers who then arrested her. This came about in 2003 when she pleaded guilty of solciting others to murder her husband.

It seems however Mrs Pomroy was not the only woman in California to want her husband dead although her case has been the ost public and luckily for Detective Pomroy fell through. Mr Pomroy contacted politicians after his ordeal to let them hear his story and also wants to make sure if you are found guilty of attempted murder you cannot benefit in a divorce settlement as his wife recieved half of their assets (up to £50,000).

The current la in California does not allow anyone convicted of attempting to murder their spouse from benefiting from a divorce however, if they hire  third party like in the Pomroy case they can still benefit. In most cases in California if a couple split their assets are spit 50/50 between the couple.

Have you ever wanted to hire a hitman to get rid of your ex? What are your thoughts on this story? Share your views on the My Mad Ex Divorce forum.

Last week the US government have put motions in place to making the legal process for getting a divorce much easier, the new government have proposed to include “irretrievable breakdown” as one of the four grounds that would legally justify a divorce.

The government is also looking at drafting a Bill to address the missuse of the new flexibility in the law, this will be battled out in the new parliament as they battle out many of the existing laws and re define many legislations.

The biggest changes look to affect the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, this also covers Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, and the Special Marriage Act, 1954. At the moment, divorce can be justified under Hindu marriage laws on grounds such as adultery, desertion, cruelty, frustration arising from specific circumstances and mutual consent. These changes are a reflection on the wy that the Indian culture is progressing, especially in urban India where divorce rates are rising. The current laws are very rigid and from this escalate into very long drawn out and bitter divorce battles. These new laws will help clear up space in the court rooms as well as helping comunities live together in better harmony after the break down of a relationship.

These changes have been requested from the courts as the apex court have called for the government to amend the law allowing irretrievable breakdown as a just cause for divorce. This has been backed up twice by the Law Commission.

We are not sure how these changes will affect the UK but the changes look to be well supported in the US. What do you think? Would an easier Divorce process help you and your family come to a more amicable split? Would you have a better relationship with your ex if you didn’t have to battle it our in court? To give your point of view comment below or join the dicsussion on My Mad Ex Divorce and separation 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!