LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson’s mother was awarded custody of the singer’s three children yesterday and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe was given visitation, formalizing an arrangement announced last week.
In a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing on issues of custody and Jackson’s multimillion-dollar estate, lawyers for concert promoters AEG, which was behind the planned comeback tour of the King of Pop before his death in June, filed papers asking to be named a party to estate hearings and to be kept informed of business decisions.
Jackson’s mother, Katherine, also asked for more say in guiding the matters of Jackson’s estate, which has been valued at more than $500 million but is expected to grow given the huge demand for his music since he died of cardiac arrest.
Judge Mitchell Beckloff is expected to review the two requests later Monday. Entertainment lawyer John Branca and music executive John McClain were named executors of the estate in Jackson’s 2002 will and have been working to generate more income for the estate.
So far, their work has included permission to reprint Jackson’s 1988 autobiography Moonwalk and talks with AEG for the sale of rehearsal video shot in Los Angeles days before Jackson died and ahead of his comeback concerts in London.
Approving the custody arrangement, Beckloff agreed to provide Katherine Jackson, 79, an allowance paid by the singer’s estate and a separate allowance for the three children. The amount was not released.
Lawyers for Katherine Jackson said the singer had supported his mother financially during his career.
