Michael Jackson's family gains kids, estate as legal fight begins. Michael Jackson's family won temporary custody of the star's children and estate as the first legal shots were fired in the fight arising from the icon's death.
The court rulings came as the investigation intensified into what killed the King of Pop last week, with coroners collecting two bags of medication from Jackson's home as evidence.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge named the star's 79-year-old mother Katherine temporary guardian of his three children and his estate, which includes the Neverland ranch and rights to songs by The Beatles.
The judge, Mitchell Beckloff, set a July 6 hearing to make a final decision.
It was unclear whether Jackson had a will. The family told the court that Jackson did not have one, but at least one of the pop star's many lawyers reportedly said there was one under wraps.
Family patriarch Joe Jackson applauded the court decision to make his wife Katherine the temporary guardian of their grandchildren, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7.
"This is where they belong," Jackson told reporters. "We're going to take care of them and give them the education they're supposed to have."
Jackson's former wife of three years, Debbie Rowe, is the mother of the two eldest children, while the third was born in 2002 to a surrogate whose identity has never been made public.
Rowe, a dermatologist who met Jackson when he was under treatment, has kept a low profile since their divorce. But she appealed through her lawyers to let the children mourn their father in peace.
Rowe "requests that Michael's family, and particularly the children, be spared such harmful, sensationalist speculation" about their status, lawyer Marta Almli said.
Another attorney expected Rowe to make a decision on her next step in the coming days.
Legal experts say that Rowe, as the biological mother, would have a strong chance to gain custody of her two children. A court battle could also unearth ugly details about Joe Jackson, who the pop singer said beat him as a child.
Joe Jackson on Monday hit back at fan criticism that he has been insensitive over his son's death, calling him a "superstar."
The father said that no funeral date would be set until results of a second autopsy out on his son were complete.
"We're not ready for that yet because we're trying to wait on something else. We're searching to see what happened to Michael," he said outside the family home.
Reports have said Jackson's family is considering a series of simultaneous memorial services around the world for the singer, reflecting the huge global reach of an artist who sold more than 750 million records.
"It is the determination of the family to be careful and deliberate on how they plan his celebration of life, because we're talking about a historic figure that really changed pop culture around the world," family representative and prominent New York politician Al Sharpton said.
"This is not something you do carelessly and spontaneously. We must remember they are still grieving and in their grief, determined to uphold his legacy."
The Jackson family already has hired a private pathologist who has carried out a second autopsy on the body.
The Los Angeles Coroner's office on Monday carried out two bags of medication from Jackson's house. Craig Harvey, the coroner's chief investigator, said only that it was "additional medical evidence" in the case.
Speculation has been rife that excessive use of powerful prescription pain killers may have played a role in Jackson's death.
But a lawyer for personal physician Conrad Murray -- who was with Jackson in the hours before his death -- went on the attack, insisting his client was blameless.
Murray "never prescribed nor administered" two particular drugs - Demerol or Oxycontin - to Jackson, attorney Edward Chernoff said.
"There's nothing in his history, nothing that Dr Murray knew, that would lead him to believe he would go into sudden cardiac arrest or respiratory failure," Chernoff told CNN.
"There was no red flag available to Dr Murray, which led him to believe he would have died the way he did. It's still a mystery how he died."
He also defended how Murray responded to the immediate crisis after Jackson lost consciousness last week, recounting step-by-step the failed effort by the doctor to revive the singer.
The coroner's office meanwhile strongly denied a report in Britain's Sun tabloid, which said pathologists had found nothing in Jackson's stomach but partially dissolved pills.
- AFP/yb
The court rulings came as the investigation intensified into what killed the King of Pop last week, with coroners collecting two bags of medication from Jackson's home as evidence.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge named the star's 79-year-old mother Katherine temporary guardian of his three children and his estate, which includes the Neverland ranch and rights to songs by The Beatles.
The judge, Mitchell Beckloff, set a July 6 hearing to make a final decision.
It was unclear whether Jackson had a will. The family told the court that Jackson did not have one, but at least one of the pop star's many lawyers reportedly said there was one under wraps.
Family patriarch Joe Jackson applauded the court decision to make his wife Katherine the temporary guardian of their grandchildren, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7.
"This is where they belong," Jackson told reporters. "We're going to take care of them and give them the education they're supposed to have."
Jackson's former wife of three years, Debbie Rowe, is the mother of the two eldest children, while the third was born in 2002 to a surrogate whose identity has never been made public.
Rowe, a dermatologist who met Jackson when he was under treatment, has kept a low profile since their divorce. But she appealed through her lawyers to let the children mourn their father in peace.
Rowe "requests that Michael's family, and particularly the children, be spared such harmful, sensationalist speculation" about their status, lawyer Marta Almli said.
Another attorney expected Rowe to make a decision on her next step in the coming days.
Legal experts say that Rowe, as the biological mother, would have a strong chance to gain custody of her two children. A court battle could also unearth ugly details about Joe Jackson, who the pop singer said beat him as a child.
Joe Jackson on Monday hit back at fan criticism that he has been insensitive over his son's death, calling him a "superstar."
The father said that no funeral date would be set until results of a second autopsy out on his son were complete.
"We're not ready for that yet because we're trying to wait on something else. We're searching to see what happened to Michael," he said outside the family home.
Reports have said Jackson's family is considering a series of simultaneous memorial services around the world for the singer, reflecting the huge global reach of an artist who sold more than 750 million records.
"It is the determination of the family to be careful and deliberate on how they plan his celebration of life, because we're talking about a historic figure that really changed pop culture around the world," family representative and prominent New York politician Al Sharpton said.
"This is not something you do carelessly and spontaneously. We must remember they are still grieving and in their grief, determined to uphold his legacy."
The Jackson family already has hired a private pathologist who has carried out a second autopsy on the body.
The Los Angeles Coroner's office on Monday carried out two bags of medication from Jackson's house. Craig Harvey, the coroner's chief investigator, said only that it was "additional medical evidence" in the case.
Speculation has been rife that excessive use of powerful prescription pain killers may have played a role in Jackson's death.
But a lawyer for personal physician Conrad Murray -- who was with Jackson in the hours before his death -- went on the attack, insisting his client was blameless.
Murray "never prescribed nor administered" two particular drugs - Demerol or Oxycontin - to Jackson, attorney Edward Chernoff said.
"There's nothing in his history, nothing that Dr Murray knew, that would lead him to believe he would go into sudden cardiac arrest or respiratory failure," Chernoff told CNN.
"There was no red flag available to Dr Murray, which led him to believe he would have died the way he did. It's still a mystery how he died."
He also defended how Murray responded to the immediate crisis after Jackson lost consciousness last week, recounting step-by-step the failed effort by the doctor to revive the singer.
The coroner's office meanwhile strongly denied a report in Britain's Sun tabloid, which said pathologists had found nothing in Jackson's stomach but partially dissolved pills.
- AFP/yb
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