Divorce

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie married Philadelphia resident Tina Lai in a private ceremony this weekend. Lurie, 61, announced last July that he and Christina Weiss Lurie were getting divorced after 20 years of marriage. Lai will have no official role in the Eagles organization. The wedding was attended by family and close friends. "I am happy and excited as Tina and I begin our lives together," Lurie said in a statement. Lai, 39, is from a family that owns restaurants in Philadelphia, including the Vietnam Restaurant in Chinatown and the Vietnam Cafe in University City.

Most Dodgers fans, even those rare but hearty Angelenos who manage to sit through an entire nine innings, probably never imagined they'd have to endure another split as painful as the team's 1950s breakup with Brooklyn. But that's exactly what's happening now in L.A., where the legendary team's owners are in the midst of a divorce as ugly as Jonathan Broxton's ERA against the Phillies. The bitter split between Frank and Jamie McCourt is a big reason why the 2010 Dodgers have disappointed.

IDON'T support the ban on divorce that Sen. Fumo made even in jest because I'm the product of parents who stayed together for the kids. I don't see the correlation between forcing children to grow up in loveless, disrespectful, sometimes violent homes and how that will keep them out of poverty. Adults do need to take responsibility for their actions, and I understand the point of trying to create a stable family, but I still don't agree. I left home at 18 because I couldn't stand my parents' self-absorption with their marital issues and all the fighting.

Eddie Fisher was the first Philly teen idol, a little kid with a big tenor voice who got the first of the mega-buck celebrity endorsements - a million-dollar contract pushing Coca-Cola. But this son of hardscrabble South Philadelphia is best remembered for the actresses, showgirls and socialites who beat a path to his dressing room door, and for his three celebrity wives: Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor and Connie Stevens. LAS VEGAS - Eddie Fisher, Philadelphia's prince of song, spent 12 minutes in divorcing ex-wife Debbie Reynolds.

Gwen Florio is a former Inquirer staff writer who lives in Missoula, Mont. Breaking up just got a whole lot harder on your wallet to do. You already know who's to blame. The same guy who ruined things for golfers. Used to be a million-dollar purse was what separated the major golf tournaments from, say, the Philadelphia Open. Then along came Tiger, creating his own weather as it were, payouts growing as his fame grew, his fame growing as his salary grew, all of it adding up to $100 million-plus annually for him and leaving everybody else in the rough.

WE AMERICANS aren't very good at being hard on ourselves. A glance at the cover of popular (mostly women's) magazines would lead you to believe that the average person is wracked with guilt about (1) sub-par job performance, (2) less-than-stellar parenting skills, (3) inadequacy in intimate relationships and (4) poor body image. The casual observer would be forced to conclude that we hardy descendants of immigrant stock are dissatisfied with failure and willing to make sacrifices in the name of an honorable (but ambiguous)

I SUPPORT Sen. Fumo's legislation to ban divorce. I understand his motivation for introducing the bill, but now that he's brought it up, the state should look deeper into the impact of divorce, especially on families with children. Children of divorced parents and unwed mothers are far more likely to grow up in poverty, especially in minority communities. Making it more difficult for parents to divorce would not only strengthen the institution of marriage (gay or straight), but also help improve the standard of living for thousands of children.

D EAR ABBY: I'm responding to your request for comments about the letter from "Happily Single" and whether a divorce would be the first course of action upon winning the lottery. In a community-property state, a divorce after winning wouldn't legally protect you from having to share the spoils with your soon-to-be (and probably now bitter) ex-spouse. My husband and I have talked at length about what we'd do if either of us won the Powerball jackpots. We'd start by consulting a lawyer/financial planner to find a way to protect our privacy before claiming the money.

One last in-your-face move from Britain's Princess Diana. She announced yesterday that she'd divorce Prince Charles - before the royal family, apparently, got wind of her decision. Diana's spokeswoman issued a brief statement last night: "The Princess of Wales has agreed to Prince Charles' request for a divorce. "The Princess will continue to be involved in all decisions relating to the children and will remain at Kensington Palace with offices in St. James's Palace. "The Princess of Wales will retain the title and be known as Diana, Princess of Wales.

LAST Friday's column by Christine Flowers raises huge issues, but in effect boils down to one question: Should a married couple stay married for the sake of the children? As a seasoned, veteran family/divorce attorney for many years (I am no longer in private practice), I have tried divorce cases, domestic-violence cases and custody cases, representing husbands and wives equally. And, for the sake of full disclosure, I have been through a divorce and custody trial personally. There is an old adage among attorneys that criminal-defense attorneys see the worst people at their best and divorce attorneys see the best people at their worst.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: My boyfriend of a year and a half and I are breaking up. Our fights have turned into WWIII, and he was tired of my being upset because I caught him lying to me a half-dozen times. The kicker is that none of the lies were deal-breaker issues or worthy of the brawls they caused. He feels like the lies might keep a fight at bay, and I feel like lying over insignificant matters just adds fuel to my fire. We have a great time outside of the fighting.

ANYONE who's read this column over the past 10 years knows that I'm an immigration lawyer by profession. It makes its way into the conversation every month or so, either directly (as when I'm pleading with my conservative friends to realize that branding someone "illegal" is a political death wish) or indirectly (as when I use examples from my own life to point out how hypocritical the left is - and has always been - about human rights). That column I wrote comparing the young Pakistani girl shot through the head by the Taliban to condom crusader Sandra Fluke garnered inclusion in the Atlantic 's "50 Worst Articles of 2012.

D EAR ABBY: I'm responding to your request for comments about the letter from "Happily Single" and whether a divorce would be the first course of action upon winning the lottery. In a community-property state, a divorce after winning wouldn't legally protect you from having to share the spoils with your soon-to-be (and probably now bitter) ex-spouse. My husband and I have talked at length about what we'd do if either of us won the Powerball jackpots. We'd start by consulting a lawyer/financial planner to find a way to protect our privacy before claiming the money.

Adapted from a recent online discussion. Question: My parents are getting divorced, which wouldn't have surprised me 10 or 20 years ago, but by now I thought they were fine with the status quo. How do I begin to build a (long-distance) relationship with my dad, who was physically present but completely emotionally inert throughout my childhood? He is clearly trying to address the lifestyle issues that caused their longtime problems, but it will take a while to see if any of the changes last.

The New Jersey Divorce Center offers help with low-cost, simple divorces. So does the NJ Divorce Center. The New Jersey Divorce Center sells its services on its website, with a distinctive black background, royal-blue type, and an eye-catching headline that scrolls across the screen from right to left. So does the NJ Divorce Center: Black background, blue type, scrolling headline, right to left. Here's one difference: The New Jersey Divorce Center, headquartered in Pleasantville with offices in Cherry Hill, is the plaintiff in a trademark lawsuit filed in federal court in Camden this month.

NEW YORK - An independent review of the U.S. government's antiterrorism response after the Sept. 11 attacks reported Tuesday that it was "indisputable" the United States engaged in torture and the Bush administration bears responsibility. The report by the Constitution Project, a nonpartisan Washington-based think tank, is an ambitious review of the Bush administration's approach to the problems of holding and interrogating detainees after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

IN 1990, following her starring roles in "About Last Night," "St. Elmo's Fire" and "Ghost," the notion that Demi Moore , then married to Bruce Willis , would one day seek spousal support from Ashton Kutcher would have seemed ridiculous. Then again, Kutcher was in the sixth grade at the time. But Demi stated in a court filing Thursday that she not only wants support from the "Two and a Half Men" star, but she also wants him to pay her attorney's fees in their divorce proceedings.

WAS IT INFIDELITY? Was it booze? Was Barbra Streisand a pushy mother-in-law? One of the prettiest couples in Hollywood, Diane Lane and Josh Brolin , are divorcing after eight years of marriage. A rep for the couple confirmed the split Thursday. Brolin and Lane were married in 2004 in the second marriage for both. They have no children . . . together. Lane was previously married to Christopher Lambert and they have a 19-year-old daughter. Brolin was previously married to Alice Adair and they have an 18-year-old daughter and a 24-year-old son. The separation was first reported by Us Weekly .   One Scary judge One of our great mysteries has been solved - we now know who is going to replace Sharon Osbourne as a judge on "America's Got Talent.

MOST DUFFERS get first-tee jitters. Can you imagine how shaky you'd be if you were golfing with President Obama? Tiger Woods now knows that feeling. The president decided to escape the pressures of the White House by spending the weekend at the Floridian Golf and Yacht Club in Palm City, Fla. While the president was enjoying a few days with his golfing buddies, his wife and daughters were skiing out west. There was no word on Michelle's reaction to her hubby fraternizing with Woods, who was treated for sex addiction after numerous extramarital affairs that led to a divorce from Elin Nordegren.