Big Battle Brewing Over MJ Estate

Michael Jackson's mother wants a seat at the table when it comes to managing his estate, according to her attorney.

But some who knew Jackson say the pop icon didn't want Katherine Jackson involved in his business affairs, even though he loved her and named her guardian of his three children in his will.

In an exclusive interview, Katherine's attorney, L. Londell McMillan, told "Early Show" features reporter and weather anchor Dave Price Katherine wants McMillan to challenge Michael's choice of executors, so she can become a co-executor, and help make business decisions for her son's estate.

"Katherine Jackson is most qualified, because she was the most trusted," McMillan contends.

The will names longtime Jackson attorney John Branca, and music executive John McClain as executors and, says Price, some who knew Jackson say he wouldn't have wanted his mom involved.

Zia Modabber, a Jackson lawyer from 1993-2004, observed to CBS News, "Michael obviously made a choice that he didn't want his mother or his family involved in handling his business affairs. I mean, Michael loved his mother, but that wasn't a role that he chose for her."

Jackson hired Branca in 1979 to manage his affairs. Branca had previously represented Elvis Presley's estate.

"Once they got a chemistry going," says Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, "the two of them became inseparable, and Michael immediately hired John and he told him, flat-out, he said, 'I want to be the biggest star in show business." '

"There's really nobody who knows more about Michael's business and creative life than John does," Modabber says.

A hearing is slated for Monday, and this "could turn out to be a prolonged battle," Price says.

Under terms of the will, Katherine gets 40 percent of the estate.

But she's fighting to be kept in the loop on all business matters.

Howard Weitzman, an attorney for McClain and Branca, said in a statement earlier this week that an allegation that the pair had "not been forthcoming in providing information to Katherine Jackson's attorneys is not accurate."

According to Weitzman, Katherine's team is trying to "rewrite Michael's will" to make her the executor.

"He's incorrect," McMillan asserted. "Mrs. Jackson is not contesting the will. We are not trying to rewrite the will. Our concern is for anyone to have extraordinary powers, they need to have extraordinary trust and integrity."

"The question," McMillan also said, "is what happened to this will in 2002? How come no one knew about it? How come Mrs. Jackson didn't know about it? How come I didn't know about it? How come we learned about it the day we filed a petition in court stating he died without a will?"

The stakes are high. Despite being in debt by $331 million when he died, Jackson's estimated net worth was $236 million. And that doesn't include the boom in sales of his music since his death.

"That estate," says McMillan, "is worth, in my estimation, a couple of billion dollars. You hear $500 million. Don't buy it."

Katherine applied for emergency funds, Price pointed out. Is she broke?

"I don't know where the broke issue comes -- came from," McMillan responded. "Mr. Jackson was very generous and provided for resources for his mother and his family and certainly his children."

The $2 billion estimate, Price notes, is "if the estate achieves its potential earnings, and that's if the estate is managed effectively. Clearly, Michael Jackson in death could be even more of an industry than he was during his lifetime."