Character Animator: long coats, layers, and motion library

Hi,

I have a character that I made in AI. It has a long white medical coat that is worn open. 

So the coat is attached to the upper body (otherwise it falls down) and with an independent motion, I can give it some sway.  I devided it to left and right side even (since it is open) and even have a small back panel to see it throught the legs (also attached to the body.

When the character does even the simplet motions, the legs appear to "clip" though the side of the  coat.  (as if I had a waist high slit up both sides of the coat) What is happening is that the leg are one layer behind the coat front and in front of the coat back.  (They are also attached to the body.) The dont relate to each other at all, excep they are attached to the body.

I want the coat to somehow attach also to the leg and not just the upper torso.

Is there a way to attach an item to 2 seperate layers ?( or objects.)

I've tried cammoflauging the lateral parts of the upper legs, making the legs skinnier, and the coat wider.

Removing the dangle from the coat actually helped because it warped less with movement and covered more laterally.

If I closed the coat, I cold treat it like a long dress and I dont know if that would help.  But maybe I could make the upper legs skinny enough or transparent so they don't show though.  But I would have to redraw the coat.

I read on the forum from 2017 a suggestion that I use the collide funtion on the leg and coat.  But while it kept the leg from clipping throught the coat, it signifcantly restricted any movement of the leg.  when I did it on  only one leg and made it jump, my character was jumping on only 1 leg. The affect leg did not bed. Instead of warping the coat, it limited the range of motion of the leg.

Any ideas on what I could do?