Divorce is hard enough when it's just between two people. It's even more complicated when there are children involved. But what happens if you and your soon-to-be ex own a business together?

I saw that question posed in a tax advice column the other day, and the answer provided something valuable, beyond the simple X's and O's of how the assets are shared.

Sure, there was the standard discussion of the tax implications — the issues to consider if you or your ex wants to sell off your share of the business, or if both of you want to sell. But then there's the other possibility: Nobody sells anything and the two of you continue to operate the business together. And that's the part of this that I found most interesting.

No matter how much we talk about collaborative divorce and co-parenting through a divorce, it's easy to assume that two people who split up are so eager to be rid of one another that they're never going to talk again once the divorce is final. But increasingly that's not the case. For every acrimonious divorce, there are plenty of divorced couples who spend holidays together with their kids. And if your business is your child — or one of your children — there's no reason to believe you shouldn't co-parent it as well.

Is it easy? Of course not. But guess what? That's life. Or that's post-divorce life, I should say. None of it is going to be easy. But it's what you've got. You adapt, you learn to work with it and you continue to live your life.

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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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A conflict between military personnel and their ex-spouses may be brewing over retirement payments. At the Pentagon's recent briefing on the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA), there was demand for reform.

USFSPA, enacted in 1982, allows state courts to divide military retirement as property in divorce settlements. For example, ex-spouses married for 20 years or more can be awarded up to 50% of the former spouses pension for life, or until they remarry. If there were child support or alimony court orders, the ex could enjoy as much as 65% of the military pension.

Congress intended to protect former spouses — chiefly women — from being "dumped." It was thought military wives could not easily establish careers and work on their own retirement, since they moved frequently due to thier husband's military career. Times have changed now, and military wives can work and earn pensions.

USFSPA gives state courts authority to distribute retirement pay, classified as both property and income. Spouses often end up with a substantial share of the ex's retirement. This is especially true in the case of short-term marriages.

Some of the proposed reforms include:

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Here's a divorce story from the international press, but I have no doubt it's true everywhere.

The story comes out of Madrid, and I saw it on the website of Pakistan's Daily Times. The gist of it is that a lot of professional athletes get divorced and abuse drugs during the first year after their playing days are over.

It doesn't take much thinking to figure it out. You spend all those years being cheered, making millions, having something all-encompassing around which your life revolves. And then it's all gone.

I'm not sure what happens abroad, but here in the U.S., a lot of former pro athletes and coaches end up taking jobs as sports analysts on TV. For some, it turns into a long-term second career, and I think a big part of the reason they do it is that it keeps them connected to the game. And if that keeps their marriages from falling apart, then it's a good thing.

There's been a lot of talk lately about the National Football League's poor record of taking care of its former players, many of whom suffer tremendous physical problems after retiring. But you have to wonder whether any of the pro leagues are seeing to the mental health of their former players. With all of the spouses and families that could be impacted when athletes have trouble adjusting to retirement, it seems like something the leagues should be doing.

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It’s not often that you see stories of flat-out, honest-to-goodness deception. But here’s one of them. A woman in England got swindled out of her divorce settlement by nothing more than a few very transparent lies, and now the guy responsible is headed to jail.

Britain’s Plymouth Herald reports that Pervez Alvi, a bankrupt businessman, convinced Anne Gale to give him nearly half of her divorce settlement (about $200,000) so he could lease three pubs that the two of them and their significant others would run. Gale, who eventually remarried, didn't figure out that Alvi was stringing her along until it was too late. Alvi asked her for a check and told her to leave the payee line blank. And she actually complied. So Alvi just dumped the funds into an account in his wife’s name. And by the time Gale realized what was happening, most of the money was gone.

I’m not sure which one of them deserves more of my disdain. The guy is obviously a creep. And she did something extremely foolish. Here are words to live by: When you’re writing a check for a large sum of money (I do that every day, don’t you?) you probably want to fill the whole thing in yourself. Fortunately, the court is going to make Alvi pay it all back. And he’s going to spend 18 months in jail. It’s nice to see justice served.

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Financial experts suggest that the biggest economic burden from divorce falls on women and children. On average, after a divorce they suffer a 45% reduction in standard of living.

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:

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Resolution seems to have finally arrived for golfer Greg Norman and his wife of 25-years, Laura.

The two — who've been slogging through a nasty $500 million divorce — signed divorce papers this week in a Florida court, and agreed to divide their vast business empire.

While the terms of the deal remain sealed, Laura stands to receive the proceeds from the sale of their $21-million Jupiter Island mansion in Florida, along with a share of Norman's $500-million fortune.

Last we heard from these two, their camps were battling over arguably defamatory accusations that Norman had cut off Laura from her home and credit cards.

Some minor matters are yet to be resolved — like who's responsible for the tax liability on their private jet — but the ex-pair seem ready to put the whole mess behind them. Press reports noted both Norman and Laura appeared emotionally shaken in court. With the heat of the battle over, it looks like these two are beaten and bruised.

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What’s the deal with these Hollywood May-December marriages?

The latest word from the entertainment capital of the world is that Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone wants out of his marriage. It’s a second marriage for the 84-year-old Redstone. His current wife, Paula Fortunato, is a 44-year old school teacher.

Unnamed sources say Redstone has been unhappy in the marriage for some time and that he asked Fortunato to leave their house. According to sources, the couple’s prenuptial agreement stipulates that she only gets $1 million if they divorce. Fortunato, you may remember, helped influence Redstone to end Tom Cruise’s production deal with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures after Cruise’s couch-jumping display on the Oprah Winfrey show.

I guess you can’t ever explain love, but what compels people to get married despite a 40-year age difference? Those rich, powerful Hollywood moguls — they really do get whatever they want, don’t they?

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Yeah, Cindy Lauper crooned it in the 80's but it's just as true in 2007.

In Hollywood, it’s not only high-profile actors and D-listers whose divorces make headlines. The relationship troubles of producers, writers, directors, agents and others up and down the talent food chain are fodder for tabloids and talkshows.

Take the case of Risa Shapiro—an agent with mega talentagency ICM—and Oren Koules—the producer of horror films like “Saw.” These two have been battling each other incourt for more than two years, arguing over assets and investments and revenue generated by the “Saw” franchise, among other issues, according to court documents.

To be sure, marriages between creative people in Hollywood that end in divorce are fraught with legal and financial complications, perhaps more so than most splits. Shapiro and Koules both exercise influence in Hollywood and their split reveals just how much money is at stake when it comes to dividing assets.

For example, court records show that the first two “Saw”movies (released in 2004 and 2005) generated between $6 million and $7 millionin profits for Koules. So how much of that is Shapiro entitled to?

Likewise, Shapiro, who helped “discover” Julia Roberts and represents Jennifer Connelly and David Duchovny, racked up $582,000 in deferred compensation at ICM, and cashed in ICM stock and stock options of more than $258,000, according to court records. But get this: Her annual salary at ICM ismore than $1.2 million, court records reveal.

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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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