Which celebrity power couple announced their divorce after being married for just over a year–and which celeb is on tap to make a huge payout to a former spouse? What happened to make an Italian couple the oldest divorcees in the world? And what new details were revealed this week about a prominent politician’s divorce? After scouring the web for the latest news, views, and tweets from the world of marriage & divorce, here’s the scoop on this week’s headline-grabbing stories:

Celebrity Divorces:

Katy Perry and Russell Brand won’t be ringing in the New Year with their wedding rings on, after Russell filed for divorce in California on December 30, 2011, citing irreconcilable differences. Divorce rumors began to swirl around the comedian and Teenage Dream singer when it was reported that they had spent this year’s holiday season living apart.

According to TMZ,  Russell indicated the couple have “community property assets”, a sign the star couple did not sign a prenuptial agreement, or the one they did sign doesn’t cover all of the earnings and other assets they accumulated since their October 2010 wedding.

In other Hollywood news, Mel Gibson officially became single again this week, but not before paying out half of his estimated $850 million fortune to ex-wife Robyn Moore in what is being called one of the largest divorce settlements in history.

Because the couple didn’t have a prenuptial agreement, Robyn, 55, was legally entitled to half of everything he earned during their marriage and she is also entitled to 50 per cent of Mel’s future film earnings. According to the OC Register, Mel now joins such fellow celebs as Paul McCartney and Tiger Woods when it comes to high payout divorce settlements. In 2006, Paul McCartney paid former wife Heather Mills a sum of $50 million after arguing with the judge that his assets were not as great as Heather claimed. In 2010, Tiger Woods paid Elin Nordegren $100 million after their five-year marriage ended in scandal.

Sources & Resources  this week for Celebrity News:
http://www.tmz.com/2011/12/30/katy-perry-divorce-russell-brand/
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/divorce-333206-gibson-fortune.html

In Political News:

Newt Gingrich’s campaign still denies that it was the former Speaker of the House who sought a divorce in 1980 from first wife Jackie Battley Gingrich, an issue that has been the basis of personal attacks in the lead up to the Republican primary race. But as CNN reports, recently unearthed court documents show that not only did Newt file for divorce, citing the marriage as “irretrievably broken” but Jackie Gingrich responded to the complaint by asking the judge to reject her husband’s filing, stating, “Defendant shows that she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce, but that she does not desire one at this time.”

Newt Gingrich maintains that his wife requested the divorce, with daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman bolstering this account in an op-ed she wrote last year. Until they were located last week, the Gingrich divorce court documents had been hidden in an undisclosed location due to security concerns, says the Clerk of Court for the Carroll County Superior Court in Carrollton, Georgia.

Sources & Resources this week for Political News:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/26/politics/gingrich-divorce-file/index.html

Worldwide:

Are we about to set a new record for the world’s oldest divorce couple? A few days before Christmas, a 99-year old Italian man, identified by lawyers only as Antonio C, was rummaging though some papers when he discovered a set of love letters from the 1940s written by his wife of 77 years, Rosa C, 96, to the man she had a secret affair with all those decades ago. Though Rosa came clean about her past indiscretions, Antonio immediately filed for divorce. The couple have five children, a dozen grandchildren and one great-grand child. If the divorce does go through, Rosa and Antonio will become the world’s oldest divorcees, displacing current record holders,  Bertie and Jessie Wood, both aged 98, from the UK.

Sources & Resources this week for Worldwide News:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8982958/99-year-old-divorces-wife-after-he-discovered-1940s-affair.html

Marriage in Tweets:

As seen in Twitter this week:
Marriage isn’t until dislike do us part; It is until death do us part. Choose your spouse wisely #Marriage — via @marriage4

Some wise words to consider as we welcome 2012.

Happy New Year!