Is it possible that times are so bad, and divorce is so expensive, couples are staying together? It seems that divorces have moved into the luxury category, along with gas-guzzling cars, soy lattes at Starbucks, and big homes. Fine for those who can afford it.

That's what an article in the Newark Star-Ledger says, with statistics to prove it.

The number of couples signing on with mediators has fallen 21 percent in one year, according to Keila M. Gilbert, president of the Alpha Resource Center, a nonprofit divorce mediation network based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Part of the reason, she thinks, is housing prices. If the home is a couple's only real asset, and it can't be sold, or it would be sold at a loss, that makes it very difficult to resolve a divorce.

Moreover, with some husbands and wives losing their jobs, or not being able to find work at their previous level, it becomes clear that it's a bad time to split up: all expenses will be higher for two separate households, starting with health insurance and ending with cable TV.

For couples who are barely making it now, divorce becomes a near impossibility.

A divorce mediator in Metuchin, New Jersey, Michael Grodjeski, said: "They end up getting stuck living together. It's not easy, but don't forget, couples who come to mediation tend to be more amicable about their divorce. They can continue to live together, not happily maybe, but they are trying to make the best of things."

Of course, for some women, divorce isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. It may mean renting their home out and keeping it in both names until the market improves, or it may mean biting the bullet and making a break. Even reduced circumstances are better than living in an unhappy home.

The trophy wives are on their way out in London. Thousands of jobs have been lost in the city's financial districts and rumors are flying that dozens more are on the way. The result? A trophy wife exodus.

Sandra Davis of Mishcon de Reya — the law firm formerly known as "Heather Mills' lawyers" — says that since the layoffs have started the number of inquiries about divorce and division of assets has tripled. "When money looks like [it's] flying out the window, love walks out of the door."

Paula Hall from Relate, a relationship counseling service, has a slightly less cynical view. "More financial stress will tend to show the cracks in marriage contracts which were either overtly or covertly financial in the first place."

Another Mishcon de Reya divorce attorney Miles Geffin thinks that the increase isn't just as simple as the trophy wives marching out the door while there are still assets to divide. He thinks that the working partner — in this case, the man — has just as much motivation to divorce under these circumstances as the woman.

"Businessmen who lose their job often see it as an opportunity to head straight off to the divorce court before they find a new job — so alimony payments will be based on their unemployed status."

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Nowadays, some men are looking at divorce as something that they can win, similar to the lotto. At least that's the message being given by Australian men's mag Zoo Weekly. Its readers are invited to write in and explain why they deserve to "win" a divorce.

The competition will allow one lucky, disgruntled husband to "unleash themselves back to bachelorhood" without having to spend a cent on the inconvenience of lawyers.

Zoo Weekly claims its $10,000 divorce package is an Australian first and has everything a marriage escapee needs to embrace the life of a bachelor, including a divorce party complete with pin-up girls.

The other prizes include a three-tiered divorce cake, a home cleaner, a plasma television, PlayStation 3, and a year's subscription to Zoo to help ease transition from the marital home.

Zoo Weekly has previously been host to another tasteless contest in which readers were encouraged to enter to win free breast enhancement for their girlfriend. Surprised? Not so much.

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When your marriage is falling apart, it's urgent to take steps to protect your credit. Divorce ends one relationship, but the one you have with your creditors goes on.

To avoid a drastic hit on your credit score, you need to act in order to weather a financial storm created by divorce.

Financial experts have documented that a woman's credit takes a bigger hit than a man's when a couple splits up. Without a solid credit history in your own name, you won't be able to qualify for re-financing the marital home. And you're also likely to end up with high-interest credit cards and auto loans. Consumer financial guru John Ulzheimer makes the following useful suggestions:

* Pay up joint debts and cancel joint credit cards after you get a card in your own name.

* If joint debts can't be paid off, freeze those accounts so that neither you or your ex can run up more debt.

* If you're merely a credit card user on your spouse's card, remove your name.

* The family home should be sold unless one of you is able to buy out the other by qualifying for a new mortgage.

* Vehicles should be re-titled in each spouse's name, and car loans would have to be paid.

* If your ex is assigned to pay debt and fails to do so or pays late, place the shared accounts online so both of you can verify if the debt is being paid.

* If either of you is unable to pay the monthly bills due to job loss or illness, communicate with creditors to work out an arrangement. Unpaid joint debt will be reported to the three national reporting agencies resulting in lower credit scores.

I think it's good advice to take these precautions to protect your credit. Women especially benefit from these steps. Remember, regardless of a divorce, if there is joint debt — a mortgage, car loan or credit card — you're both on the hook to pay it off.

Here's a news flash: Divorce can ruin your credit rating.

We've post numerous entries here at FWW about this topic. But it seems the more we look around the Web, the more stories we find warning divorcing couples that they've got to really be on their toes to maintain their financial well-being. One such story I read the other day came from Dow Jones' MarketWatch and had all of the major points covered pretty well.

You have to separate your joint accounts, both checking/savings and your credit cards. If you don't, one person can really screw the other out of a whole lot of money.

And then you have to figure out what to do with big-ticket possessions, like houses and cars. For many couples, selling these off is the only financially feasible step to take. If one person can't handle the mortgage, both of you end up better off if you sell the place and end up with cash in your pockets. Of course, with the housing market the way it's been the last year or two, that may be easier said than done.

All of this is great, common-sense stuff. The problem — which the piece acknowledges, to its credit — is that most people aren't thinking straight when a divorce happens. The writer suggests planning all of this financial reorganization starting six months to a year before you file for divorce.

Sure, and right after I get done with that, I'll get to work on paying next year's taxes and buying Christmas presents for 2010, too.

There was big news in the divorce blogging world a few weeks ago when a study was released saying that divorce was bad for the environment. When a couple splits up, there becomes a need for two apartments or houses, two beds, two cars, even two toasters. We salute the people who are able to divorce but voluntarily stay together. But imagine being forced to stay together even after the split.

This is the situation currently going on in Cuba. The tiny island is facing a severe housing shortage, estimated to be about 500,000 homes short of demand. People who divorce in Cuba — and there are a lot of them, with a divorce rate of 64 percent — are often forced to live together for years, or sometimes even their entire lives, simply because there is nowhere for them to go.

Mirta, a 45-year-old Cuban national, divorced her husband in 1997. Now, more than 10 years later, she and her ex are still living in the same two-bedroom apartment with their adult children. While many Cubans do not want to be on record as openly criticizing their government for the housing shortage, it's not difficult to imagine how many people must be affected by this issue.

The result has been a type of black market for housing, where people meet strangers on the beach, looking to swap their two-bedroom apartment for two one-bedroom units. This is a black market because under the communist rule, all housing changes and moves must be first approved by the government.

The article I read referred to this as a testament to "Cubans' ability to stay friendly — or at least civil — under the most awkward of circumstances." I guess, but I'm glad I don't have to do it.

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Thumbs up to Gannett News Service for a nice, long, comprehensive point-by-point breakdown of all the financial matters you need to think about when you go through a divorce.

With the number of divorces there are in the United States, every media outlet in the country could do this story once a month and it still probably wouldn't be enough. There are so many things to remember, and considering it's the worst time in your life, you're bound to overlook some of them.

Long story short, getting divorced is like getting ready to buy a house. Just make off that you're about to go through a loan application. Take stock of all your assets. One tip that jumped out at me was to think about assets that might not typically be on the top of your head, like frequent flyer miles and store reward club memberships. These things may seem insignificant in the grand scheme, but they should be considered and divided up nonetheless.

Another thing lots of people forget is the need to update wills and change beneficiary information. This one is particularly easy to overlook because for at a lot of us, that involves an appointment with a lawyer or financial advisor — and that's just one more thing you have to make time for.

One expert Gannett talked to says one of the key mistakes people make is trying to hold on to their house at all costs. You may get the house, but that means you also get the mortgage and property taxes and upkeep of the house all to yourself. Can you afford that? If you're staying in the house for the benefit of your kids, so they won't have to move and change schools, you should be entitled to more spousal support so you can afford everything you need.

There's lots more in this article — it's a must-read if you're going through a divorce.

The Vienna divorce fair we’ve written about here at FWW got going this week, and to say the least it sounds like a pretty interesting affair.

In addition to lawyers and private investigators on hand looking for business, a couple’s therapist and the Roman Catholic Church also have booths at the event. The church, of course, is opposed to divorce, so that makes their presence pretty interesting. One of the things I wondered about this event was how people were going to manage to discuss their situations with exhibitors in a crowded room. They’ve solved that problem by having private rooms available.

All in all, it seems like a pretty cool idea, though let’s not lose sight of the fact that the whole thing is a business venture. The guy running the show also promotes wedding fairs and he realized the opportunity for a divorce fair by looking at the numbers. According to statistics cited in a Bloomberg report on the fair, divorce has risen by 20 percent in Austria over the past two decades, and two-thirds of the marriages in Vienna end in divorce.

There are plans for more of these divorce fairs in Germany and London. Keep an eye out, because as many divorces as we have here in the U.S., it’s only a matter of time before these shows are happening here too.

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Divorce is not a simple process for anyone, but it can take a really long time if you're rich. That's pretty much the main point to pull out of the latest story on pro golfer Greg Norman's divorce.

Now, we've written about this before. But just in case you're new to the story, Greg and his ex-wife Laura Theresa Andrassy are scheduled for another hearing in early November. They're still haggling over who will end up with the tax liability for one of their jets. Yes, that's jets, plural.

And then Laura's attorneys are going to try to make Greg pay her more money because he's been dragging his feet on coughing up the cash he's supposed to give her. As if he's really going to notice it when he finally does pay her. Let's be honest, though. Laura hasn't exactly been destitute, unless you ignore the $725,000 Greg gave her that she and her attorneys burned as they worked out the details of the settlement.

One day I hope I have money problems like these.

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At this time of great emotional pain, making ends meet becomes a daunting task. I've put together a few strategies for money management and living within a budget for all the women out there facing the post-divorce financial crunch.

Changing your lifestyle isn't easy, but if you keep these tips in mind, you can survive post-divorce financial troubles. Don't let yourself and your family become part of the rising debt statistics — manage your money wisely.

Create a Budget:

1. List predictable amounts and sources of income. If employed, use your take-home pay.
2. Record your monthly recurring expenses: rent/mortgage, utilities, food, medical, insurances, transportation, car payment, credit cards, telephone, cable, internet, education, clothing, charity, gifts, misc.
3. For three months, record all of your expenditures — this helps you know where your money is going.
4. If you have more expenses than income, adjustments will have to be made.
5. The final divorce decree should have allocated debt responsibility. Include your share of payments in the budget.

Trim Expenses: