Spoiled Children of Divorce

A strange, very strange article about a Divorce Lawyer for the Rich in California: “Life Lessons from Laura Wasser, Divorce Lawyer to the Stars” by Naomi Fry published in The New Yorker, July 11, 2022.

Wasser says that her firm generally represents the breadwinner in the divorcing couple and that her divorces generally settle after a year or a year and a half, a total miracle in a household which has assets. The interviewer asks a question about family and how to deal with the children. Wasser describes her clientele as the Southern California rich family. Wasser herself went to Beverly Hills High, her Father was a lawyer, and her parents weren’t divorced. So, her concerns are mostly about buying clothes and looking good. Wasser married after law school and worked for her Father at some point, I think during her divorce. There is some detail about that but it becomes clear that the real reason why her two sons’ Fathers is that she probably knows that it’s not worth it financially. She characterizes her sons as being well-adjusted and kind. That’s the dream of all divorced Mothers. We come away not knowing who the hell they are because she probably doesn’t know. She does say that she grieved after the end of each relationship but says that her ex’s are all great guys. Apparently her children don’t grieve. She does describe the findings of a recent U.S. Census study which showed that children are now experiencing many major life events than they used to related to having been born to unmarried couples. Did I publish that article?

At the beginning of the article Wasser talks about how family structures are now changing and what a wonderful thing this is. If you are at a conference and your ex is too, your younger child from a previous relationship can stay with his older half-sibling who has an available parent. This is described as “family.”

At the middle of the article Wasser talks about how her assistant weeds out the clients who are potentially headed for the contentious divorce thing which explains why her cases settle so quickly and her career is successful.

At the end of the article, Wasser is quoted as talking about a client who rages openly and honestly about the bitch he was divorcing and she hears the client’s daughter telling him that she stills loves him. I think this was a recording left on her answering machine probably in the middle of the night. I assume that this particular divorce occurred earlier on in Wasser’s career before she found her assistant who is so good at weeding out nut-job clients.