Divorce

PHILADELPHIA — Less than an hour before the 8 p.m. tipoff, Philadelphia 76ers employees are scurrying around the Wells Fargo Center, hoping this Saturday night unfolds as planned. It's late March, and the team is handing out Allen Iverson bobblehead dolls. Iverson himself is scheduled to attend, a rare public appearance for the 37-year-old former NBA superstar. He'll be introduced during a pregame ceremony and then watch the game from Sixers chief executive Adam Aron's suite.

Adapted from a recent online discussion . Dear Carolyn: My boyfriend of 1 1 / 2 years and I are breaking up. Our fights have turned into World War III and he was tired of my being upset because I caught him lying to me a half-dozen times. The kicker is that none of the lies were deal-breaker issues or worthy of the brawls they caused. He feels like the lies might keep a fight at bay and I feel like lying over insignificant matters just adds fuel to my fire.

Adapted from a recent online discussion . Dear Carolyn: My boyfriend of 1 1 / 2 years and I are breaking up. Our fights have turned into World War III and he was tired of my being upset because I caught him lying to me a half-dozen times. The kicker is that none of the lies were deal-breaker issues or worthy of the brawls they caused. He feels like the lies might keep a fight at bay and I feel like lying over insignificant matters just adds fuel to my fire.

Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: I've been divorced not quite a year. I've been seeing a guy since just before the divorce was final. Even though I didn't think I wanted a relationship, somehow he has grown on me and I think, despite the baggage we both carry around, we have come to care about each other a lot. I thought I wanted someone to push me to do more and be the best me I could be, but he's very different from that — more tortoise than hare.

After his wife of more than two decades filed for divorce in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Irfan Aleem responded in writing in 2003, and not just in court. Aleem went to the Pakistani Embassy in the District, where he executed a written document that asserted he was divorcing Farah Aleem. He performed "talaq," exercising a provision of Islamic religious and Pakistani secular law that allows husbands to divorce their wives by declaring "I divorce thee" three times. In Muslim countries, men have used talaq to leave their wives for...

A former Fairfax County police sergeant and his 13-year-old daughter died in an apparent murder-suicide, shot as they sat in a sport-utility vehicle in a relative's Annandale driveway early Monday, Fairfax County police said. A family member found the bodies of John Jackson, 40, and his daughter, Alexis Jackson, shortly after 1 a.m. outside the brick home in the 3800 block of Forest Grove Drive, where Jackson's wife had been living with her parents since November. Jackson and his daughter, of the...

Bob Green, a onetime radio DJ who married pop singer and Miss Oklahoma Anita Bryant, was found dead Jan. 26 at his home in Miami Beach. He was 80. Mr. Green managed his wife's rise to stardom as an entertainer and Florida citrus spokeswoman, then followed her into anti-gay activism, which ultimately destroyed their careers — and marriage in 1980. For more than 30 years, Mr. Green lived quietly, alone and resentful. "Bob internalized a lot of his own anger and frustration and...

If you've witnessed Josh Ritter's theater-filling grin or been the lucky recipient of one of his patented post-concert hugs, it's hard to fathom how anyone could want to divorce this friendly, gifted person. But in late 2010, Ritter's marriage to fellow singer-songwriter Dawn Landes ended. After just 18 months. "It was a cold, blustery morning in Calgary, Alberta, and I was on tour," Ritter writes. "I hung up the phone and looked around me. " For the north Idaho...

A cultural shift in thinking about parenting and gender roles has led to a surge in divorced couples agreeing to more detailed shared custody arrangements that increasingly spell out how they will practice and talk about their religious faith. Agreements of the past stuck largely to the question of where the kids would spend such holidays as Christmas, but today such accords can stipulate religion, denomination and doctrine. Episcopalian, not Catholic. Sunday school through high school, no...

I would like to express my extreme disapproval of the Dec. 15 front-page headline, " Parents' breakup devastated Lanza, ex-neighbors recall . " Why on earth was that the chosen headline for an article which states the fact that Adam Lanza's parents had separated "about a decade ago"? And this additional information was stated in the eighth paragraph, after the article was continued on Page A11. Was this really the most pertinent fact? There were certainly many issues in this young man's life that affected his...

If you've witnessed Josh Ritter's theater-filling grin or been the lucky recipient of one of his patented post-concert hugs, it's hard to fathom how anyone could want to divorce this friendly, gifted person. But in late 2010, Ritter's marriage to fellow singer-songwriter Dawn Landes ended. After just 18 months. "It was a cold, blustery morning in Calgary, Alberta, and I was on tour," Ritter writes. "I hung up the phone and looked around me. " For the north Idaho native — whose parents have been married...

Harvey B. Steinberg, 82, who practiced divorce law in Montgomery County for more than 40 years, died Feb. 21 at his daughter's home in Derwood after a heart attack. He was a Rockville resident. A daughter, Pamela Mayer, confirmed the death. Mr. Steinberg was a senior partner of the Rockville law firm Miller, Steinberg & Hessler until 1999, when it closed. He then did divorce mediation for the Montgomery County Circuit Court before retiring in 2002. He was recognized twice by Washingtonian magazine as a top area...

Sunday, Feb. 17 Al-Anon Family Group newcomers and regular meetings, 8 p.m., Haymarket Baptist Church, parish hall, 14800 Washington St., Haymarket. 703-969-2726. Monday, Feb. 18 Al-Anon Family Group 7 p.m., St. Paul United Methodist Church, 1400 G St., Woodbridge. 703-534-4357. Overeaters Anonymous 7 p.m., Bethel Lutheran Church, 8712 Plantation Lane, Manassas. 703-823-6682, www.oanova.org . Tuesday, Feb. 19 Overeaters Anonymous sunrise meeting 7 a.m., St. Benedict Monastery, 9535...

Adapted from a recent online discussion . Dear Carolyn: My best friend calls me on a regular basis, always with complaints, a new crisis or just needing to "vent. " Most of the time, these events in her life that cause her strife are of her doing. The more I think about it, the more I think she thrives on the drama, and when there is none she creates it. I am not sure how to proceed at this point. I have been through some major trauma the past two years: divorce, the...

It's commonly said that fighting about money is one of the main reasons couples divorce. That's not exactly accurate. Couples definitely fight about money — lying about it, the control of it, the lack of it or the mismanagement of it. But just like money isn't really the root of all evil, it's not the root cause of many divorces, either. The fights couples have about money are frequently the manifestation of some other deeply entrenched stuff that comes out when there are financial issues.

Dear Miss Manners: A good friend is getting divorced. A select few of us are very close to her, but she has decided not to tell us she's getting divorced. She has been married on ly a year and a half, and this divorce we heard about from her soon-to-be-ex-husband was a total shock to all of us. Several weeks have passed, she has moved in with her parents, and we have all been togethe r with her — and she still acts like nothing is going on. It's...

NEW YORK, July 4 -- When the media capital of the world encounters a celebrity divorce, it's a breakup made in tabloid heaven. So the city that has hosted the spectacular splits of Woody Allen, Liza Minnelli and Rudolph Giuliani now is feasting on the salacious details of model Christie Brinkley's fourth marital breakup. "It's a freak show," celebrity divorce lawyer Raoul Felder said Friday of the latest chapter in divorce, New York-style. The collapse of the 10-year union of the former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and architect Peter...

The April 10 Style article " A fight for same-sex divorce " rightly pointed out the legal quagmire faced by same-sex married couples trying to get divorced in states that do not recognize their marriages. States that do not yet have marriage-equality laws should take action, either through their courts or their legislatures, to recognize same-sex marriages — if only for the limited purpose of dissolution. But states that already have marriage-equality laws have a role to play as well. They should follow the lead...

DEAR MISS MANNERS: A good friend is getting divorced. A select few of us are very close to her, but she has decided not to tell us she's getting divorced. She has been married only a year and a half, and this divorce we heard about from her soon-to-be-ex-husband was a total shock to all of us. Several weeks have passed, she has moved in with her parents, and we have all been together with her — and she still acts like nothing is going on. It's making us all uncomfortable, and it's like an elephant...

While I'm away, readers give the advice. On overly sexualized clothing for girls: Why feel nervous about little girls' short-shorts and midriff tops? Would people similarly get nervous about a little boy playing outside in the summer with no shirt at all? I know it's hard to raise kids in a world that isn't always safe for them. Does a little girl's clothing choice matter in that regard? How can you say that to a child without hurting her? "We don't want you...