D.C.: Post-divorce will you, like Peter Orszag and his ex-spouse need a conflict manager to navigate child rearing?

Peter Orszag and his ex wife Cameron Kennedy have been in the news lately on account of his engagement to ABC News’ Brianna Golodrya and his break up with his new baby mama Claire Milonas, a Harvard MBA and venture capitalist with a Greek shipping magnate for a father.
All of a sudden, this London School of Economics, and Ivy League graduate in charge of President Obama’s budget office, is a hair fiber away from becoming Tiger Woods John Edwards. As a result, all his business, including his divorce settlement agreement and post divorce court disputes with his first wife have become fodder for the media, including the Post (which, I’ve read, is not exactly lauded for its “journalistic integrity”). Who knew?
My interest in the piece I just read, is really the appearance that Orszag and first wife seem to have had some trouble circumnavigating, among other things, the care and custody of their children. This is not unlike a lot of other regular folks I know. Says the New York Post:

In those papers, filed in Washington family court in August 2007, Orszag claimed Kennedy’s “monetary demands” torpedoed “lengthy negotiations” for the kids’ summer schedule — which went unresolved after nearly two months of disputes and an “arduous” mediation session.
Orszag accused Kennedy of “repeated attempts to interfere” with his relationship with the kids and asked the court to OK a parenting coordinator as a middleman to stop a “deteriorating cycle.” Read more here:

Obviously, I cannot confirm or deny the veracity of these statements. All I can do, is try to find an angle for this divorce blog, to use this story for informational purposes to my readers, and not to spread gossip, which, obviously, I would never, ever do. 🙂

So, hence, this idea for this post. I thought about the fact that there are times, often times, that two warring couples might require a third party to help them circumnavigate the treacherous waters of child custody, post divorce. It shouldn’t be that way, ideally. But it is that way quite a lot. When love breaks down and divorce ensues, all of a sudden folks who are usually highly intelligent and accomplished, suddenly can’t act reasonably if their lives depended on it. When that happens in the context of custody, the court has to step in and find a happy mediator to run the show.

Different states may call these professionals by different names, but essentially they do the same thing: They help couples manage conflict with caring for and rearing their children. Interestingly, poor folks usually don’t get one of these and presumably, that’s because they don’t come free. They do charge by the hour and poor folks don’t have money to pay conflict managers by the hour. I mean, there are court appointed social workers, and law guardians and other personnel. But I am not aware of any court subsidizing “conflict managers.” That is a luxury that the folks making a decent salary, say, upwards of $100,000 per year (btw, Orszag must make a pretty penny since he was ordered to pay his wife as follows:

In a February 2008 suit claiming breach of contract, Orszag’s ex-wife, Cameron Kennedy, claimed the finance whiz “adamantly refused” to make a $300,000 payment to her that was due Jan. 31, 2008.
The payout was part of the couple’s 2006 divorce deal, in which Orszag agreed to give Kennedy an immediate $1.1 million payout, about $200,000 from a retirement plan and bank accounts, plus two payments of $300,000, to come at the start of 2008 and 2009.
Kennedy’s suit, filed in DC Superior Court, demanded the money, plus $16,506 in interest. Orszag made good, and the case was later dismissed.)

So, obviously, Peter and Cameron can easily afford a conflict manager and/or a “parenting coordinator.” What if you are in a situation where you can’t afford a conflict manager? Usually something will be available, even if it is the services of ACS or some other state agency. But if I were you, I’d try to steer clear of that as much as I possibly could. Why? Girrrrllll, just trust me on this. You don’t want to go there.