If there's one gossip goldmine we can always count on, it's the demise of celebrity marriages. Pop singer Usher and his wife, Tameka Raymond, divorced back in 2009, but according to TMZ, she's making new demands regarding child support and custody.

As is not uncommon in high-end celebrity splits, Usher and his ex-wife are in a very nasty public battle. Raymond is claiming the singer has repeatedly failed in his parenting obligations. According to court records, she's asked a judge to take away his joint custody of their two children. She says he has broken several agreements they had set up, including: getting her approval on new nannies, giving her a chance to watch the children when he's away for more than eight hours, allowing her to take the children for two weeks last summer, and giving her custody during Christmas last year.

His ex-wife also said that he promised her $5,000 per month to hire a nanny, but that he hasn't paid in several months, and now owes almost $35,000. And, claiming his income has risen substantially, she says she wants more money in child support than was originally negotiated.

And there's one more complaint: He closed her Saks 5th Avenue credit card, according to court documents, preventing her from taking advantage of the card's special benefits.

All of these details point to a glaring problem: The former couple appears to have neither good communication (which is understandably common among divorced couples) nor someone who can communicate for them, which has led to seemingly vindictive behavior. Often when custody and child support battles get ugly, it's the children who suffer. Parents pit them against each other, and their sons and daughters often grow up resentful. One of the roles of a divorce attorney is to bridge that gap and facilitate arrangements that both parties can agree to and sustain. If Usher and Raymond had such professionals representing them, we might not be reading so much about them.

Source: TMZ, "Usher's Ex-Wife - You Don't DESERVE Our Kids," Nov. 29, 2011