Jackson: Where There's a Will . . .

As Singer's Mother Is Named Temporary Administrator of Estate and Guardian of Children, Reports of 2002 Will Surface

(CBS)  As the coroner looks for more clues in the death of Michael Jackson, his parents are looking to the courts.

CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy, reporting from the Jackson family compound in Encino, Calif., said that funeral plans are on hold until the family learns exactly why Jackson died.

But that hasn't stopped his parents from moving quickly to take control of their son's assets.

In a flurry of legal moves, Jackson's 79-year-old mother Katherine was appointed a special administrator of her son's estate. She was also granted guardianship of his three children. Both orders are temporary.

"This is where they belong," said Joe Jackson, the singer's father. "We are the parents and we have other kids of their size. We love those kids, too."

"They love their Grandma and she is undoubtedly the best person to look after them," said Mark Lester, godfather to the singer's children.

But it's not that simple. Michael Jackson's former wife, Debbye Rowe, is the mother of two of the children, and experts say if she wants custody, the grandparents will have an uphill legal battle - especially given claims by Michael Jackson himself that he was abused as a child.

"There certainly are claims of abuse by these people, namely Michael Jackson's parents, who are coming in and saying we want custody of these children," said family law attorney Tina Schuchman.

As for Jackson's youngest son, known as Blanket, legal documents list his mother as "none," further complicating the case.

Michael Jackson's parents claim the singer may not have had a will, yet one of this former lawyers says he does. What's in that document, if it exists, could help settle some of the questions about who will care for Jackson's children and oversee his estate.

The Wall Street Journal reports of a will dated 2002 that supposedly divides Michael Jackson's assets among his mother, his children, and charities. There is no mention of his father Joe Jackson.

On "The Early Show," CBS News consultant Joe Randy Taraborrelli, a Jackson biographer, said the will was drawn up by John Branka, who was the singer's attorney from 1980 to 2006.

"He's somebody I know and have interviewed many times. He's an amazing attorney, a trusted family friend," said Taraborrelli. "If this is true, then this will will probably be filed on Thursday."

CBS News legal analyst Lisa Bloom said it would be surprising if a man of Jackson's prominent had died without a will. "He would have missed the opportunity, for example, to name a guardian for his children, to leave something to charity, to leave something to family members. If there is no will, all of his property under California law is divided equally among his three children, period. End of story."

Bloom said, if reports are true that Joe Jackson is not mentioned, it is a significant omission. Also important would be public statements about his father's abuse when it comes to a judge deciding on custody.

"When looking at custody all factors are taken into account. A person's entire history is taken into account. I found it was interesting in the court papers yesterday that Katherine Jackson alone and her name only is seeking temporary and ultimately permanent custody of the kids. Joe Jackson is completely out of it. They are still legally married. They are living together at least part of the time, but his name is not on any of those court papers."

Taraborrelli said Michael's relationship with Joe Jackson cannot be painted with a quick brush stroke. "It's a 50-year relationship," he said. "There were times along the way Michael was really unhappy with his dad, and there were times he really loved his father. It was a very complex relationship and if this will does exist and we think it does, it will remain to be seen what Michael's feelings about his dad were in 2002. It can kind of go either way."

Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, told "Early Show" anchor Maggie Rodriguez that no one he knows has seen the will, and characterized its presentation as "a little slow."

"But if it is Michael's will, certainly that's got to be his desires. That's got to be his case. As of this moment no one has seen the will or even knows about it."

Oxfam admitted that there have been public statements made by Michael accusing his father of abuse, contrary to his comments that Michael loved his father and his own sentiments that Joe Jackson has been kind and generous to his entire family.

"Sure, no question about it. We hear all kinds of things to the contrary. But that's just part of the storm that's surrounded Michael Jackson's life. It's an unbelievable description of a storm. I only know what i saw. I only know the conversations and the dealings that I saw and that is that Michael loved his dad, and the fact that he wouldn't be mentioned in a will is not all that surprising.

"He had a great relationship with his mother and I think that you have to take it on face value," Oxman said.

On the matter of custody, Bloom said that Rowe, the biological mother of two of Jackson's children, has the absolute right to seek custody under California law. "She will get custody unless someone shows she is an unfit mother or has severed her parental rights."

So far, Bloom note, Rowe has not sought custody or expressed interest in seeking it. If at some point in the past she signed away her parental rights, "Then her rights have been severed."


Search Of Singer's Mansion

Two coroner's investigators and two police detectives spent several hours Monday inside the three-story mansion Jackson rented, and then emerged with two large red bags filled with evidence, some of it medications.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter would not say what type of medications were picked up. He also did not say how much medication there was or where in the home it was found.

A police official close to the investigation said detectives had used a search warrant to enter the house. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and asked not to be named, declined to specify what was removed from the home but said investigators would be speaking to any doctors who were determined to have prescribed medications to Jackson.

Two days after Jackson's death, moving vans were spotted arriving at his home. It wasn't known what was being taken out but one expert wondered about the ramifications of investigators returning to the house several days after the death.

Generally, if a case turns into a criminal investigation, taking evidence from a home days after a death creates the potential for a defense lawyer to claim evidence was tainted, University of Southern California law professor Jean Rosenbluth said.

"As soon as law enforcement gets information that there might be some kind of criminal activity, they go back," she said. "Any good defense attorney can make a claim that the evidence might have been tainted somehow because all sorts of people had access to it before the crime scene was secured."

Messages left for Los Angeles police Commander Patrick Gannon, the designated police spokesman on the Jackson case, were not immediately returned.

Investigators have already interviewed Jackson's primary physician, Conrad Murray, and said he was cooperating fully.

The investigation will possibly continue for another four or five weeks, "with extensive testing," Winter said.

Winter also said that Jackson's family was being "extremely cooperative."

Jackson was pronounced dead Thursday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he was taken by paramedics.

The police official said the case remains a standard death investigation, and nothing suggests wrongdoing at this time.

The coroner's office performed an autopsy on the 50-year-old entertainer's body on Friday but deferred a decision on the cause of death, citing the need for further tests.

The Jackson family is waiting for final results from a second autopsy which they commissioned, but they did receive an oral report.

Former Jackson attorney Brian Oxman said, "It's the same as what the L.A. County Coroner did, that there's no indication of a heart attack, there's no aneurysm, there's no accumulation of fluids around the lungs."

New photos released from concert rehearsals just two days before his death seem to show Jackson in good health.

A lawyer for Michael Jackson's doctor said the singer's children asked, and were allowed, to see his body after he died.



Complete Coverage of Michael Jackson's Death

[tlander727]

I think that the kids need to be with there real mother. They have not been getting the nuturing and support that kids should recieve growing up. Their father has not been able to do what Debbye will be able to do for them. Also their grandparents are not going to be able to give what a mother can. They may love their grand children, but how long will they be here and from the eveidence people have from their "not so well" of taking care of their own kids like Micheal. Overall i think that Debbye is going to be the best bet for these kids. She will be able to do what every mother should do for their children and give them the love and attention that they need.

[drrc1]

Four of our troops were killed in Iraq during the last two days who did not receive even 1% of press acknowledgment that Jackson did.

Is this pedophile, dead or alive, really worth more than four of our soldiers doing on a foreign soil?

[spiritwalk]

I think all Rowe has to do is to ask for a DNA test on the first two kids and we will find out that she is the mother, but Jackson was not the father.

I think that if they test all 3 none of them will turn out to have been fathered by Jackson.

The stories at the time was that when the last child was born that Jackson rushed into the delivery room, grabbed the baby and run out before anyone could stop him. Then when he registered the childs birth certificate listed...Mother:None

It is probably going to turn out now that the family has no claim on the children legally and probaly that the children will have no claim on the estae as well under the circumstances. But you can see now that Joe Jackson is getting ready to brawl and he will use every dirty trick he can to win. Al Sharpton will come in to play the race card against the white mother with Jesses Jackson running interference on Larry King.

It will all be for nothing in the end though. If, as it is being reported that Jackson was over $500 million in debt (that is half a billion) the existing assets will never cover that and the creditors will be the ones who can lay claim to all future revenues from the estate.

I would imagine that like the doctors, Jackson probably was jumping from lawyer to lawyer as well and no single lawyer will turn out to have been overseeing anything but what Jackson put in front of them.

The parents, the siblings and the kids will probably be long dead and buried before this mess gets settled in the courts.

[45ford]

... and at 79 years old, Katherine Jackson is no spring chicken. she could kick the bucket any day and if she did, where would that leave MJs kids? it's frightening to think that given MJs accounts of child abuse that his kids could be subjected every day to the elder Jackson's despite the years that have passed since MJ grew up that may have afforded them the opportunity to mend their ways. and for Joe Jackson to come out 'n say MJs kids belong in his house is terrifying. that man isn't right - he never has been and i also question if Katherine has the wherewithal to raise them.

the custody circumstances thrust upon Debbye Rowe right now have got to be unimaginable. i hope she finds it within herself to do what is right for her 2 kids. long term, it seems Debbye may be the best path for them. at least afford them the chance to have normal lives. if news accounts from nanny Grace are correct, those kids already have been long abused because they've not been schooled and how old are those kids? come on! wake up people.

[spiritwalk]

You have to wonder how valid any of the legal papers are. His youngest childs birth certificate, under Mother, says NONE.

They have been playing fast and loose with the paperwork for years and now the legal house of cards is all going to fall apart.

For one thing, who wants to bet that if in a custody fight the kids end up being DNA tested that they will have no relationship to the Jackson family at all?

[whatsup49]

i can't take any more mj stuff. good golly, bury the man, let him rest in peace.