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.

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First Wives World has a terrific column featured on About.com's Guide to Divorce Support. The Guide's coordinator, Cathy Meyer, graciously asked our own Debbie Nigro to write a guest column for a series she's running this week on "Moving On."

Well, guess what? No one has more experience with movin' on and movin' up than Debbie, who has successfully reinvented her personal and professional life, post-divorce, with incredible energy and verve. She's resilient, and so are you!

In fact, that's the message of her piece on About called "A Formula For Getting Back to Great." It's all about women being in control of their destiny and plodding ahead, putting one foot in front of the other to embrace the present and, of course, the future.

Cathy and her team of experts are providing valuable information and resources that can help get you through. In fact, About has everything from chat rooms where you can swap ideas and information, to advice columns on dating, legal and financial issues and tips on how to deal with your kids in a divorce. They've got everything!

So check it out...but stay tuned to FirstWivesWorld.com because we're on the cusp of some exciting plans that will help you navigate divorce no matter what stage you're in--in fact, we're going to get you through each phase not only with useful resources and support from other women, but you'll be there with a smile on your face because we've got some fun, new shows that will entertain and tickle you as you discover that your best self lies ahead...

Yes, stay tuned. We can't wait...! And, check out Debbie's column here.

So, it looks as though actress Anne Heche and her estranged husband cameraman Coley Laffoon have reached an agreement on who gets to keep the furniture!

A judge ruled that Heche gets to keep some of the furniture and linens she brought to the marriage including a footstool, armchair, chest, lamp, pillows from Bali and some bedding. Apparently Laffoon had accused Heche of recently removing some belongings from their house in Los Angeles.

Heche, who's been shooting the ABC series "Men In Trees" in Canada, reportedly said she needed the items she took to outfit her place in Vancouver. She claimed to have asked Laffoon what he wanted but he didn't respond.

Superior Court Judge Frederick C. Shaller ruled that Heche could keep the items but said that Laffoon may have "temporary exclusive use and occupancy of the [couple's] residence" until it's sold or until another court ruling.

Click here for more, and here for our previous coverage.

Splitting possessions with a soon-to-be ex can be difficult. Take the case of actress Anne Heche and her estranged husband cameraman Coley Laffoon.

The couple is currently feuding over yoga rugs, pants, bedding and furniture, among other possessions, according to documents filed in L.A. Superior Court.

Laffoon wants Heche to return various yoga rugs and some “pants” that she allegedy removed from their home. For her part, Heche claims the items belonged to her. A couple of weeks ago, Laffoon reportedly noticed that furniture, pillows and bedding were missing and, get this, that buttons were ripped from 19 of his shirts. Sheesh…How does it come to this?

Heche, who’s dating her “Men In Trees” co-star James Tupper, denied Laffoon’s claims, saying the items she took were hers before they got married.

A judge ruled earlier that the couple’s 5-year-old son Homer will live in Los Angeles with Laffoon while Heche films her ABC series in Canada.

Share your story of splitting up possessions here. Funny, weird, eccentric...we want to know!

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A new survey of marriage and parenting indicates that divvying up household chores is now more important to making a marriage successful than children.

Oh, come on! Doesn't everyone know that already? The "honey-do" list grows on the weekends, to be sure, but splitting up chores on a daily basis sure seems to go a long way toward feeling good about one's spouse. Affection grows with each dry cleaning pickup, garden weeding, load of laundry and dinner prep.

The survey, by The Pew Research Center, indicates that the percentage of Americans who consider children "very important" to a successful marriage has dropped since 1990. In fact, kids fell to eighth out of nine on a list of factors that people associate with successful marriages.

By a margin of nearly 3-to-1, Americans say the main purpose of marriage is the "mutual happiness and fulfillment" of adults rather than the "bearing and raising of children."

Kids appeared well behind "sharing household chores," "good housing," "adequate income," a "happy sexual relationship" and "faithfulness,” according to an AP report on the survey.

In a 1990 World Values Survey, children ranked third in importance among the same items, with 65 percent of survey respondents saying children were very important to a good marriage. Just 41 percent said so in the new Pew survey. Sharing pesky household chores was cited as very important by 62 percent of respondents, up from 47 percent in 1990.

The survey also asked about same-sex couples raising children: Fifty percent of respondents said it’s bad for society, 11 percent said it's good and 34 percent said it made little difference.

What do you think?

Billed as one of the biggest contested divorces ever: A Chicago energy industry mogul wants to overturn a judge's ruling that would give half of his wealth, or about $176 million, to his estranged wife.

Michael Polsky, 57, CEO of Invenergy LLC, is battling Maya Polsky, 55, his wife of 31 years, who was primarily a homemaker. Ugh. That word “homemaker” seems so, well, 1970s but there it is, still with us in 2007. Maybe the term should be “domestic manager.”

Last year during trial, lawyers for Michael Polsky argued that Michael was responsible for building the couple's wealth after they emigrated from Russia in the 1970s. Maya’s attorneys argued that she’s served as her husband's trusted confidant and should be considered a full partner in her husband’s success.

While a Cook County Circuit Judge William Boyd sided with Maya Polsky last fall, both sides filed post-trial motions that put the final result in doubt. A new ruling is expected today which could increase or decrease the award.

Judges have tended to split marital estates equally in working-class and middle-class divorces. But in high-profile cases where there are huge fortunes at stake, that isn’t the case.

For example, take the case of Lorna Wendt, the ex-wife of former General Electric executive Gary Wendt. A decade ago, Lorna asked a Connecticut judge for half of her husband’s fortune. While she received less than she wanted, she still collected $20 million.

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