The Battle Over Jackson's Will
The battle over Michael Jackson's estate was supposed to get under way Monday, but his family now wants to delay the hearing so they can take a closer look at his affairs and also to see if other wills surface.
Attorney Jack Ford, anchor of "Courtside" on the In Session channel, joined "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith Monday to discuss the issue.
"There is a will, one that we know of. This is the one that basically says, I want my mom to take care of the kids, and I want the money to go in trusts, right? Let's talk about the money going into trust because the family has already said we're not so sure we want to go that route," Smith remarked.
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"You're starting to see tensions developing here. We know immediately, a couple days after the death, Michael Jackson's mother said, 'Look, we don't know about wills or anything, so appoint me. Somebody has to have a handle on what's going on there.' And then the will shows up, and the will says, you know what, you've got some roles here, but there are two other people who are the executors. It's executors whose job it is to say, we're going to marshal all the assets. We'll find out what's out there. We'll make sure, if people are making money off of his likeness right now after his death, we'll get the appropriate piece for the estate. Right now that's where you have the conflict," Ford explained.
The executors are plugged into the music industry and want to get and get control of the situation as soon as possible.
"And they're also apparently the co-trustees of that trust where all of that money, however much it is - because they've said, at this point, we don't know what's out there. It's estimated maybe $500 million. They've got to start handling that also," Ford said.
"What about the idea of these kids? Because wasn't there an original agreement where Debbie Rowe said, okay, you have the kids. And could it be in dispute? Do we know for sure whether or not she actually did anything except carry the children?" Smith asked.
"That's the interesting question. Everybody said she is the biological mother. She had negotiated away her rights. If Michael Jackson was still alive, that wouldn't be a question. Once he dies, now a biological parent can say, 'I want back into the picture,'" Ford explained. "If she's the biological parent. And just because you're the biological parent, ordinarily you get an advantage. You get a leg up if you're the biological parent and the other parent dies. Here she hasn't been anywhere near these children, apparently. The grandmother, Katherine, has, and she says, we want to be the guardians and take care. The court's going to have to wrestle with that. What do we have here? On one side, Debbie Rowe, biological parent but no contact. Grandmother, a lot of contact but older."
"What's in the best interests of the child? Those are the magic words. What's in the best interests of children?" Ford added.