In fact the whole custody brouhaha went quite smoothly.

According to attorney statements, Katherine Jackson will raise Michael's three children under an agreement with Rowe, who will have visitation rights under the supervision of a child psychologist, paid jointly by both women.

No money is changing hands as a result of the agreement, the lawyers' statement said.

(The child psychologist is to help ease Rowe back into her children's lives, not because she can't be left alone with them.)

"Mrs. Jackson and the family are pleased this matter is resolved and was handled in a caring, thoughtful and courteous manner by the parties and their representatives," Katherine's attorneys, L. Londell McMillan and Diane Goodman, wrote in a statement.

"We were all united in our goals to do what is best for Michael's wonderful children, and both Mrs. Jackson and Debbie Rowe were on the exact same page."

Eric M. George, an attorney for Rowe, called the agreement a "dignified outcome." George credited Katherine's attorneys for their work on the deal, and expressed pride with Rowe for "her integrity and selflessness."

* From Michael Jackson to "A

Whiter Shade of Pale," Britain's House of Lords ruled yesterday that Matthew Fisher, who played the distinctive organ solo on the 1960s Procol Harum hit, is entitled to a share of future royalties from the song.

Fisher won a 2006 High Court battle to be recognized as the song's co-author. But an appeals court ruled that he should not receive royalties because he had waited almost four decades to make his claim.

* Being Michael Jackson's pri-

vate doctor paid very well, but apparently not well enough.

Dr. Conrad Murray is more than $100,000 behind on his mortgage payments and could face foreclosure on the Las Vegas country-club home that authorities searched in their manslaughter investigation into Michael's death.

Assessment records show that Murray's 5,268-square-foot home by the 18th hole of a golf course has four bedrooms, three fireplaces, a pool and a spa. Its original sale price in 2004 was $1.1 million.

Murray's Houston attorney, Edward Chernoff, said that Murray had fallen behind because he had not been paid for the two months Michael had been in his "care" - good luck with that bill, Doc - but Mary Hunt, the foreclosure officer handling Murray's case, said he stopped paying his $15,000-a- month mortgage in January, months before he started working for Michael.

In addition, Murray's Nevada medical practice has been slapped with more than $400,000 in court judgments since 2008, and he faces at least two other pending cases.

Court records also show that Murray was hit last December with a nearly $3,700 judgment for failure to pay child support in San Diego and that his wages were garnished for almost $1,500 by a credit-card company.

One would think the screening process for Michael Jackson's private physician would have been a bit more thorough.

Playground paparazzi