Take this as a lesson in how not to manage your money (should you ever acquire millions)...According to The Denver Post, Heather Mills has spent roughly one-third of her divorce settlement from Paul McCartney. Yes, one-third of the $48 million she was awarded in March.

Granted some of this covered a $300,000 public relations bill and a hefty lawyer tab, a New York City apartment, and renovations on her Sussex, England, home. Additional funds covered her pledge of $6 million to charitable organizations. Throw in a few vacations, a lavish divorce party, and a $1 million staff bill, and...hey, where'd all that money go?

An Atlanta area "marriage for life" essay contest is offering $10,000 toward a wedding, which includes free flowers, photography, invitations, and honeymoon airline tickets. Why aren't droves of engaged couples entering?

It's sponsored by an abstinence group, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and we'll give you one guess what that means…keep your hands to yourself!

The contest is sponsored by Marriage Appreciation Training Uplifting Relationship Education, which aims to eliminate marriage conflict and divorce. Director of the non-profit organization Phillippia Faust stated the contest stipulations "are designed to promote a marriage that will 'really last a lifetime.'"

And how would one go about creating a marriage that lasts a lifetime? From Faust's perspective, no premarital sex. Additional stipulations are as follows:

Bride and groom must agree to undergo premarital education. Must agree not to serve alcohol at reception. Couple either agrees not to have premarital sex or at least acknowledge it’s preferable not to. At least one of the couple must live in DeKalb, Newton or Rockdale [Atlanta] counties.

Hmmmm…no takers? Really?

Perhaps their slogan should be "Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder."

A homemaker from Ahmedabad, India, is facing grim prospects — both financially and matrimonially. According to The Times of India, the woman lost more than $60,000 in the plummeting stock market last week, and her husband is threatening divorce.

The 34-year-old wife and mother trades stocks in her free time and says her husband encouraged her hobby, even benefiting from her profits. But when the market took a nosedive, her husband said he'd rather leave than help shoulder the financial burden.

Now that doesn't sound like a case of "for richer or poorer," does it?

Just last week, we reported on the stress that money places on relationships — but it sounds like more is at play than financial burden. If a partner so quickly threatens to dissolve a marriage, perhaps this was the easy "out" he was hoping would come along?

According to the American Psychological Association's new "Stress in America" study, "the declining state of the Nation's economy is taking a physical and emotional toll on people nationwide, and it is women who are bearing the brunt of financial stress."

The study confirms that women are more stressed about money (83 percent of women versus 78 percent of men) and the economy (84 percent versus 75 percent).

Financial stress is clearly a global issue and is, in fact, the main cause of divorce for Australian women, reports The Brisbane Times. More than one-third of women cite money as the reason for break-ups, divorce, and relationship stress.

Why more women than men? Researchers suggest that in times of economic crisis, women are more aware of mounting bills and expenses, particularly with regard to children. Consequently, they feel stress, and that stress carries into the relationship.

And economic crisis it is. The number of Australians citing financial insecurity as a relationship stressor has doubled since 2006.

By all accounts the Divorce, Separation Support Group of Raleigh, North Carolina, is a terrific bunch of people, both men and women, at least 600 members, who meet once a week to give advice and help each other. The group was betrayed last January by a Fayetteville woman, Margaret Irene Haithcock, 51, who got $6,241 out of them by lying.

She came to the group and announced that she had a triple tragedy that had put her in debt. Her son had been killed in Iraq, she said, and she had cancer, and needed further treatments at Duke. Also, a fire had burned down her house and her letters from her son who was killed in Iraq.

The group, in response, held several fund raisers for her and actually had a memorial service for her son.

But it turned out that none of that was true.

An arrest warrant was issued in June, charging her with obtaining property by false pretenses. The warrant said that the claims of her illness and a dead son were offered only as a way to get money from the group. It took authorities more than two months to find her.

Haithcock, who is also known as Margaret H. Cooke, was arrested last month. According to records at the North Carolina Department of Corrections, she has a history of arrests and convictions dating from 1984 to 1990. She was imprisoned, most recently, for six months in 1990 on forgery charges. Other charges included credit card fraud, credit card theft, attempted forgery, and cheating on property services.

Haithcock/Cooke pleaded guilty on Thursday (October 9) to the charges, and has been ordered to repay the divorce support group. She was given three years of probation, fined $200, and ordered to undergo a mental health assessment.

Finally, she was told not to be in touch with the support group ever again.

What no one has made clear, however, is whether or not Haithcock/Cooke lied about another thing: Was she ever divorced?

Actress Shiva Rose's divorce from fellow actor Dylan McDermott is taking a toll on the family home, reports contactmusic.com. Rose is unable to buy out McDermott's share of their Brentwood residence; consequently, they are selling the house.

Actually, that's one side of the story. A source told the New York Post that Rose is being forced to sell the home, while a statement released from Rose's camp said the two have agreed as a couple to sell the house they shared for nine years.

Regardless, divorce is expensive. If you remember, McDermott filed after 11 years of marriage, stating he would represent himself in the divorce process. Perhaps he was attempting to save a few bucks?

Canadian resident Gerald Moore says something's suspicious about his step-daughter's winning lottery ticket, namely, that it's his, says the Ottawa Citizen.

The 81-year-old claims his 59-year-old wife, Patricia Moore, medicated him to the point of incoherence, swiped a winning ticket off his nightstand and handed it off to her daughter, Bobbie-Jo. Shorty after, Patricia filed for divorce.

Gerald discovered his step-daughter was the recipient of $3.5 million when he read it in the newspaper. Hmmm...now that seems a bit suspect.

Patricia denies the allegations, stating that they all regularly play the lottery, and the winning stub was her daughter's. And what a generous daughter Patricia has: Bobbie-Jo gave her mother $1.5 million.

Patricia says Gerald's nine children are at the root of the allegations, looking to get their hands on the cash, and plans to counter-sue her husband for "character assassination."

Patricia and Gerald should take a lesson in civility from the Brititsh lottery winner who gave a portion to her ex.

The Washington Post recently reported on Japan's declining marriage rate. Short story: Men are looking to wives to take over maternal roles, and that scenario isn't very appealing to most single Japanese women:

"There is the rarely stated but almost universal expectation of Japanese men to be fed, clothed and picked up after. 'I am willing to take care of and give comfort to a man whom I care about, but that does not mean I want to be his mother,' she said."

In fact, WaPost found that women who had married were less likely than their male counterparts to remarry after divorce. The article states that post-divorce, men are unhappy and remarry quickly, while "the women are relatively happy and often delay remarriage." Perhaps it's the "burn me once" theory?

In addition to the lack of women looking to take on the mommy role, a stalled economy and a posh home life are keeping adult children in their parents' homes. A Calgary Herald piece from early August reported that Japanese parents — fed up with housing, feeding, and taking care of their single adult children — were taking matters into their own hands and organizing events exclusively for parents to find mates for their children.

"A government report from 2005 showed 71.5 percent of men aged 25 to 29 were unmarried, compared with 47.1 percent in 1990. For women, 32 percent from 30 to 34 years of age were single, compared with half that number in 1990."

Canadian web site globeandmail.com reported recently on what may be a national record. Nope, not the Olympics. The length and cost of a Vancouver couple's divorce proceedings.

Bernard Lotzkar and his former wife, Marian, appealed the $1 million legal bill that followed their 29-day court hearing. The former couple squabbled over everything from inheritances (justified) to gold coins (really?) to airline mileage points (oh, c'mon!).

The former Ms. Lotzkar's attorney "...billed her for 904 hours; his associate ... for 1,464 hours. Bills were also sent out for two lawyers who spent a total of 210 hours on research."

Just to put this in perspective, Britney's legal fees amounted to less than $750,000.

But who to top the Canadians than the Americans? Last year, a Connecticut couple spent 86 days in court and racked up a $13 million, according to The Hartford Advocate.

Let's hope we don't have more stories to file under "ridiculously expensive court cases" anytime soon.

The BBC recently reported on an unusual circumstance for Egyptian divorce: a housing shortage. Affordable housing, to be exact.

Young couples in Cairo spends not weeks, not months, but years saving for an apartment in a soaring real estate market, and, according to a women's rights activists quoted in the piece, by the time a husband and wife can purchase a home and move in together, they're "sick of one another." Consequently, Egypt boasts a high newlywed divorce rate.

(Meanwhile, couples are doing just the opposite in the States. Those who would love to split up view divorce as a luxury — and are forced to stay together, burdened by the unbearable weight of decades-long mortagages and the crushing blows of the domestic housing market.)

Cairo has deemed it's situation a "marriage crisis," and measured are being taken to remedy the problem.

In fact, the housing crunch has inspired a "wealthy businessman" to give away an apartment for every day of Ramadan this September. Newly married couples will be chosen through a random drawing on an Egyptian game show; apparently, huge numbers have registered.