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CHARLESTON, S.C. - The wife of entertainer Bill Murray has filed for divorce after nearly 11 years of marriage, alleging he abused her and is addicted to marijuana and alcohol. Jennifer Butler Murray filed divorce papers May 12 in Charleston County. She owns a home on Sullivans Island, S.C., where she lives with the couple's four children. The complaint was first reported by The Post and Courier of Charleston. It also alleges frequent abandonment by the former "Saturday Night Live" star. Bill Murray's attorney, John McDougall, wouldn't comment on the allegations, but said the entertainer "is deeply saddened by the...

ELIZABETH, N.J. -- The nation's first openly gay governor was back in court Thursday, testifying for a second day as he tries to convince a judge he is too poor to pay alimony to his estranged wife. Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey testified Wednesday that he has limited income, few assets and significant debts. He said he is all but unemployable because of the gay sex scandal that toppled his administration and ongoing publicity in his messy divorce. "Because of this case, I have been financially crippled," McGreevey told the judge. McGreevey, 50, stepped down 13 months before his...

The nation's first openly gay governor tried to convince the judge in his divorce case Wednesday that he's too poor to pay alimony, saying he's been financially crippled by his resignation and marital troubles.

...In the nearly 30 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against gender discrimination in alimony, few male beneficiaries have stepped forward to talk about it. Those who did typically went by pseudonyms or the golden rule of 12-step recovery: first names only. Little wonder, considering the attention that has come to some former husbands of alimony-paying celebrities. "Why the courts don't tell a husband, who has been living off his wife, to go out and get a job is beyond my comprehension," Joan Lunden, the television personality, said in 1992 when a court ordered her to pay her ex-husband...

From TMZ.com's Pam to Rick -- I'm Pregnant, Get Lost! (1/9/08): "TMZ has learned the divorce between Pam Anderson and Rick Salomon is back on and Pam is pregnant! "You'll recall Anderson filed for divorce last month, but called it off just days later. But sources tell TMZ she is now moving forward with the divorce, even though we know she's pregnant with his baby. "Salomon has told friends he believes she is 'acting crazy' because of the pregnancy and hopes she will settle back into the marriage. Interestingly, in her divorce petition, Anderson asked for spousal support but not...

"...in today’s world, in which women have fought for the right to equality, alimony seems more like a kid getting an allowance from daddy and I believe it should be abolished altogether except for extremely dire circumstances where a spouse is older, cannot work at all, and for only a short term period. No man or woman should be held to being a slave to an ex-spouse after a marriage ends. That said, if we are going to have alimony laws, I believe that men and women should be held to an equal standard under the law."

"You've never heard complaints about paying child support until it's a woman who has to pay it."--Seattle Family Law Attorney Lisa Scott "The only way to abolish alimony is to make women pay it."--Tom Leykis, nationally-syndicated talk show host.When men work hard to support their families, they're often accused of victimizing their poor wives who have to stay at home, chained to their children. The National Organization for Women and other feminist groups often argue that these men don't deserve joint custody after divorce because they "never took primary responsibility for raising their kids while they were married." When divorce...

McGreevey tells wife: You'll get zilch from me BY ADAM NICHOLS DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Saturday, September 15th 2007, 4:00 AM Jim McGreevey yesterday accused his soon-to-be-ex wife of "greedily" grabbing at the perks of being New Jersey's First Lady - and refusing to give them back. In legal papers packed with snide and catty comments, the openly gay McGreevey told estranged wife Dina Matos McGreevey she can expect to get nothing from him. Matos McGreevey had asked him to pony up $4,000 a month in alimony to help her live a lavish lifestyle like his. "Her jealousy and contempt...

Background: In my blog post "She Squanders Her Divorce Settlement, so He Has to Pay Her Again--30 Years Later!" I wrote: "Get this: Dennis North gets married and has three kids. His wife cheats on him and they get divorced. Dennis buys her a house and investments as part of the divorce settlement, and raises the three kids himself. Later, he pays her more money, even though she refuses to work. She squanders the money he gave her, and now, 30 years later, guess what? He has to pay her all over again because she's 'fallen on hard times.' Nice."...

Alimony still required after ex-wife enters domestic partnership ASSOCIATED PRESS July 24, 2007 LOS ANGELES – A judge has ordered a man to continue paying alimony to his ex-wife – even though she is in a registered domestic partnership with another woman and uses the other woman's last name. California marriage laws state alimony ends when a former spouse remarries, and Ron Garber thought that meant he was off the hook when he learned his ex-wife had registered her new relationship under the state's domestic partnership law. An Orange County judge didn't see it that way. The judge ruled that...

She Squanders Her Divorce Settlement, so He Has to Pay Her Again--30 Years Later! July 3, 2007 at 9:08 am · Filed under Vox Populi Several of you sent me this amazing story--Court ordered payout 30 years after divorce. Get this: Dennis North gets married and has three kids. His wife cheats on him and they get divorced. Dennis buys her a house and investments as part of the divorce settlement, and raises the three kids himself. Later, he pays her more money, even though she refuses to work. She squanders the money he gave her, and now, 30 years...

CLEARWATER, Florida (AP) -- Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued in a Florida court Tuesday in an effort to end the payments. But the ex-wife's attorneys said the operation does not alter the agreement. The lawyers and Circuit Judge Jack St. Arnold agreed the case delves into relatively uncharted legal territory. They found only a 2004 Ohio case that addressed whether or not a transsexual could still collect alimony after a sex change. "There is not a lot out there to help us,"...

A retired St. Louis police captain must continue to pay his ex-wife $2,425 a month in maintenance, even though he claimed in a civil action that she tried to have him killed, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled this week. In a unanimous decision, the judges said Tuesday that neither the settlement agreement of Joseph and Ida Richardson, nor the divorce decree, nor Missouri statutes allow for a change in the financial arrangement. Ida Richardson's attorney, Elizabeth H. Christmas, had argued before the court in December that the so-called plot was never the subject of a police report or a criminal...

BAGHDAD - Fatima Ali was a 24-year-old divorcee with no high school diploma and no job. Shawket al-Rubae was a 34-year-old Shiite sheik with a pregnant wife who, he said, could not have sex with him. Ali wanted someone to take care of her. Rubae wanted a companion. They met one afternoon in May at the house he shares with his wife, in the room where he accepts visitors seeking his religious counsel. He had a proposal. Would Ali be his temporary wife? He would pay her 5,000 Iraqi dinars upfront — about $4 — in addition to her monthly...

The biggest fiction behind James Bond is that the fantasy master spy and world-class heartbreaker lived past 40-something. It’s not just the death traps and vodka martinis, or even the three packs of cigarettes a day, that would have shortened his life. His naked ring finger would have too. Because real men need wives. Consider the data: Married men—regardless of age, sex, race, income or education—consistently have been found to be healthier than men who are single, divorced or widowed. This so-called “marriage benefit” begins to kick in right after the wedding, then builds. Husbands ages 18 to 44 are...

Tina Monaghan despises the busy signal. Three times a day, at least twice a week, the Loxahatchee mother dials Florida's Child Support Enforcement hotline, trying to outwit the perpetual beep. "It's almost like a part-time job. I do my 40 hours a week job, come home and do the mom thing and then call them," she said of the agency that monitors whether her ex-husband in Broward pays support for their two daughters. "My cell phone, I have programmed an alarm to go off every day at 5:30 [p.m.] because I figure if it's close to 6, I might get...

Divorced Iranian slapped with 10,000-year alimony order Tue Nov 29,12:07 PM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - An Iranian man has been ordered by a divorce court to pay his ex-wife one gold coin a month in alimony for the next 10,000 years. Under Iran's marriage law couples sign a pre-marital agreement where the bride must stipulate the level of compensation they can demand during the marriage or in the event of separation and divorce. In this case the Tehran woman -- who was not named -- had asked for 15 million dollars worth of gold coins, the governmental Iran newspaper said....

SEATTLE -- A man carrying an unusable hand grenade and a sheaf of papers including a "living will" was fatally shot by police Monday in the lobby of the downtown federal courthouse, authorities said. The Seattle man, born in 1952, had often expressed "a disdain for the federal government as well as some of its policies," U.S. Marshal Eric Robertson said, and often frequented the courthouse as well as the federal office building. Police could not tell that the grenade was inert as the man held it in his hand, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said. Several news organizations identified the...

NEW YORK — P. Diddy likes to brag about having the biggest yacht, the most expensive parties, the grandest houses and more. Now he's been ordered to pay what could be the biggest child support order in New York state history, and he's not happy. Last month, the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division approved an increase from $5,000 to $21,782 per month to P. Diddy's ex-girlfriend, Misa Hylton-Brim. Representatives of both P. Diddy and Hylton-Brim say it's the highest child support payment in state history. In an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, the hip-hop mogul vowed to...

Tallahassee -- After debating the heartache of divorce, shacking up for convenience and romantics who "still believe in love," lawmakers voted Wednesday to let judges reduce or eliminate alimony when the person receiving it moves in with someone else. "This bill is more like a country-western song than good legislation," complained Republican state Rep. Nancy Detert after the 68-44 House vote. Judges generally end alimony when the recipient remarries, but courts in Florida have disagreed about what to do about people who — in the words of one lawmaker — "take themselves right up to the line of remarrying" by...