Inside the Drama of 'Divorce Court'
Husbands and wives square-off in emotional, drama-filled divorce battles.
April 12, 2010— -- From Tiger Woods to Sandra Bullock, the emotions of high-profile marital heartbreak have long been splashed across the covers of tabloids.
And when it comes to high-profile divorces, like Paul McCartney and Heather Mills' $50 million bust-up to Madonna and Guy Ritchie's $75 million split, it's the stuff that broken dreams are made of -- houses, property and megabucks.
Last week, Jamie McCourt asked that her soon-to-be ex-husband, Dodger owner Frank McCourt, pay her $1 million a month for expenses.
Perhaps you've heard it said that love is like Velcro; lovers come together quietly and part noisily. Nowhere does that seem more true than on the Los Angeles set of "Divorce Court," the longest-running court series on TV.
Watch the story on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET
Judge Lynn Toler, who became the show's host in 2006, is a real judge, but "Divorce Court" is not a real court. Legally, only the state can grant divorces, but couples who have filed for divorce come to argue about the division of property or money and -- according to Toler -- vent feelings that have gone unacknowledged for too long.
"We talk to people who are upset, and what the divorce system does these days, it doesn't allow anybody the emotional period on the marriage sentence," she said. "Here we give people the opportunity to be heard. Then I decide who gets Fluffy the dog."
For many couples, property is at the center of the divorce battle.
"I think that property is very important in this day and age," said Helen Fisher, a professor of anthropology and human behavior researcher at Rutgers University. "It defines you; you worked hard to get it. It's meaningful to you, and when you divorce, a lot of people have a lot of battles over their property for good reasons."
What typically happens during the half-hour program is a reality-show spectacle of middle-class misbehavior -- elevated by Toler's insights. The Internet, she said, seems to have exacerbated divorce.
"I don't have any statistics on it. I haven't done a study, but from what I see in here it's a mess," Toler said. "Before when you wanted to cheat, you had to go out and meet the person, and now on the Internet you have millions of people on your disposal that could walk into your life...And this is what kills me, they meet on line and then she gets on a plane to go see him...and they get married. And they got kids and she's wondering why it didn't work out."
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