Friday, May 29, 2009

Reality Television and Divorce


Its been some time since I have posted any blogs, and while I was searching online today for interesting and new topics to discuss, Kate and Jon Gosselin popped up more times than any other topic. I've being trying to avoid a blog on this subject, but when these folks came up numerous times when I searched "divorce", I have chosen to bite the bullet and write a blog on this subject.

In case you are not aware of who the Gosselins are, they are a couple who have 8 children, 6 of which are sextuplets. Their lives are being chronicled on a TLC reality television program, and Mr. and Mrs. Gosselin are being scrutinized because of allegations of affairs and Kate's alleged poor treatment of her husband and previous family helpers. I have no interest in scrutinizing the lives of these people, and further have no opinion on who is responsible for the alleged demise of their marriage. However, I think that most people will agree that marriage can be very difficult, and I often question why anyone, celebrity or not, would open up their lives to the public by putting their family on television. It seems that every couple who chooses to do this ends up in divorce court. Is this because the couple has always had problems or is it because negative and positive media attention leads people down the path of adultery, greed and different wants? I'm interested to know whether people believe that the reality TV families always had issues and were doomed for divorce and fame was just a catalyst, or whether other people believe its the media attention that caused the breakdown of the marriage.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Is Divorce Recession Proof?


I've read lots of articles and stories about how divorce rates are on the decline and the reason for the decline is the poor economy. I've been wary of this theory for quite some time given the fact that I haven't seen much of a decline in my own practice. In some cases, we are busier than ever. The issues that people are arguing over are different, meaning that people are fighting over who has to keep the house rather than who wants the home. However, we haven't seen much a decline in the amount of people who are coming in for consultations. The following article discusses whether or not divorce is recession proof.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1041015.html