Joe Jackson to be kept away from Michael Jackson’s Children!!

News Source : Mirror

Secret pact between Katherine Jackson and Debbie Rowe to shield children from Michael’s ‘bullying’ father

Michael Jackson’s mother and his ex-wife have struck a secret deal to exclude the singer’s domineering father from having any part in the upbringing of his three children.

Katherine Jackson and Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jacko’s two eldest children Prince Michael and Paris, had been at loggerheads over the future custody of the kids, with each wanting to bring them up.

But the pair are close to putting aside their differences to prevent Joe Jackson having anything to do the children’s upbringing.

Michael famously accused his father of beating him as a boy and Joe, who is estranged from Katherine, is widely blamed by fans for many of the singer’s problems.

Joe, 80,  has insisted that he and Katherine, 79, should have  joint custody of Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Prince Michael II, known as Blanket.

Jackson's Kids!

Now sources say Debbie and Katherine, who were set to fight it out in court over custody, are now close to a deal in which Katherine will bring the children up, while Debbie has regular access.

Debbie, 50, and Katherine have apparently been united in fury at comments by Joe – who made millions out of his son’s success – about Paris and Blanket’s potential as performers.

And there was widespread revulsion when Joe blatantly plugged his own record company in the aftermath of his son’s death on June 25.

Now the Sunday Mirror can reveal lawyers acting for Debbie and Katherine met on Friday for talks on how to shut out Joe.

A custody hearing scheduled for tomorrow  has been deferred until July 20 to allow the women to iron out a deal for Katherine to keep the children at the Jackson family compound in Encino, California, with regular visits from Debbie.

At Encino the children are being encouraged to talk about their dad as much as possible as part of their grieving process. When Jackson was alive he insisted they wear masks while out in public, but they appeared uncovered on stage at the LA memorial for the singer on Tuesday.

And Katherine is gently re-introducing them into a more normal routine than they would have been used to, buying ordinary supermarket toys for them rather than the hand-picked luxury items Jacko gave them then often threw away, paranoid about germs and bugs.

Jackson’s brother Jermaine has told how the children have taken comfort from their cousins, uncles and aunts and have started playing with other kids at the family home.

Despite being separated from his wife Katherine for five years and living in Las Vegas, Joe claims they should have joint permanent custody of the children.

He said: “We should keep them all together and then make them happy, feed ’em like they’re supposed to be fed and let them get rest, plenty of sleep and grow up to be strong Jacksons.”

In his will – in which there was no reference to Joe – Michael left instructions that Katherine should raise the children.

And he stipulated that his old friend, soul legend Diana Ross should become their guardian in the event of Katherine’s death.

Debbie, who met Jacko when she was a nurse working with his dermatologist, Arnold Klein, gave up her custody rights to Prince Michael and Paris in 1999.

And last weekend she declared: “I want the children back.”

It’s understood her primary concern is to prevent Joe having  any role at all in bringing them up and was even contemplating applying for a restraining order to have him legally barred from contacting them.

A source close to Debbie’s attorney said: “The last thing she wanted was for those kids to be looked after by Joe and go through what Michael went through.

“When they were together Michael poured out his heart about how much he loathed Joe for what he had done. And Katherine knows it’s best for the children if they can settle it between themselves and keep it all out of courts. They can’t stop Joseph seeing the kids at family functions and parties, but they can and will fight to prevent him having any formal role whatsoever in their upbringing.”

Joe has already revealed he has big dreams for Blanket. He said last week: “I keep looking at Paris and she wants to do something and Blanket, he can really dance.”

In 2007 Jackson claimed: “My father would rehearse with a belt in his hand, you couldn’t mess up. I would never get spanked during rehearsals or practice – but afterwards was when I got in trouble.”

Joe has always denied beating either Michael or his sisters and brothers.

Edward Furlong’s wife files for Divorce!

The ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ actor’s spouse Rachael Bella cited irreconcilable differences in her filing at Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this week.

Edward Furlong

The wife of Edward Furlong has filed for divorce from the movie star.

Rachael, 25, is seeking spousal support and joint custody of their son, two-year-old Ethan Page.

The 31-year-old actor – who was previously romantically linked to Paris Hilton and actresses Natasha Lyonne and Jolene Blalock – married the ‘Ring’ actress in April 2006 after they met on the set of independent movie ‘Jimmy and Judy’.

Keen animal rights activist Edward – who shot to fame aged 13 – has a history of alcohol and substance abuse problems and has had several stints in rehab.

He was arrested twice in 2001, for driving without a license and driving under the influence (DUI) and again in 2004 when he tried to free lobsters from a restaurant in Kentucky, where he was filming ‘Jimmy and Judy’.

What Will Happen To Prince Michael , Paris Michael & Prince Michael II ?

Will the King of Pop’s three children become pawns in a custody battle

Michael’s children are rarely seen in public, and when they are, it is usually with their faces masked or veiled. It is not clear who their biological father is, but they are Michael Jackson’s legal children. The question facing Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11; and Prince Michael II (more commonly known as Blanket), 7, now is: Who will raise them to adulthood? Who will get the children Custody?

Yesterday for the first time jackson’s kids were seen openly in the public! And everyones heart melted when Paris Michael said the words ” Daddy I love You” ” He was the best father ever”

 

“Michael Jackson has been the only parent these children have known, and now he’s gone,” Galina Espinoza, senior editor of People magazine, told TODAY’s Natalie Morales Friday in New York.

Journalist and author Diane Dimond, who has written extensively about Jackson, told TODAY that for now, the King of Pop’s mother, Katherine Jackson, will care for the three children.

“I don’t know who gets custody of the kids,” Dimond said. “That’s the biggest and saddest question here. Michael Jackson was their whole life.”

It won’t be easy for children who have been so sheltered.

“The psychological pressure that’s on these children is just tremendous,” Dimond said. “First off, they lost their parent. They haven’t been brought up in a traditional way. They are not like other children. They’re going to be pushed out into the real world now, which they’re totally unaccustomed to.”

Find me a family!

Naomi Angell of Osbornes takes us through the adoption process

THE RECENT TV PROGRAMME Find me a Family focussed on the problems in finding adoptive families for the hard to place children in the care system who struggle to find a family to call their own.

The starting point for people thinking of adoption is often a baby or toddler so that they can have the closest experience to bringing up their own child. However there are now very few babies available for adoption, with seismic changes in social attitudes towards unmarried mothers,abortion and family structures.

The programme encouraged families thinking about adopting to look beyond the cute babies or toddlers to the children waiting in the care system to find a family; children with medical problems, sibling groups who should not be separated unless there is no alternative or older children.

Find me a Family also followed three very different types of families: a married couple who had been unable to conceive a much wanted second child after having their first; a single woman; and a male same sex couple.

The Adoption and Children Act 2002, the most up to date Act of Parliament on domestic adoption, introduced the right for gay couples and heterosexual cohabiting couples to adopt. The TV programme followed the families through the adoption process, a system with a reputation for its intrusiveness, capriciousness and length and dispelled some of the myths while explaining others.

The question is often asked why being assessed for adoption has to be so rigorous when having your own baby can happen without thought or planning and does not involve having to answer social workers’ questions about your own childhood experiences and your views about disciplining your future child. What a family will learn in the preparation and assessment process for adoption is that they need to understand themselves and their responses to situations when bringing up a child who has lost its own family.

It is not true that age or weight are automatic bars to adopting. But an adoption agency will need to be satisfied that an adoptive family is of an age and is likely to be in good enough health to bring an adopted child up into adulthood, to minimise the risk of the child suffering a second loss during their childhood.

A family’s application to adopt will go before the adoption agency’s adoption panel. The adoption panel is independent of the adoption agency and includes adopters,adopted adults and a doctor, as well as social workers. They will consider the detailed report prepared by the family’s social worker and make a decision on whether the family is suitable to adopt. The adopters will be able to attend the panel meeting and have a right to an independent review by a national body if they are not satisfied with the decision.

With a positive home study report the search for a child can start. The family’s social worker will work with them in trying to identify the right child for that family. As the TV programme showed, the time this takes can vary greatly. The child’s social worker needs to be sure that the family are right for that child. Where a suitable match is possible, the child’s social worker will meet the adoptive family and give them detailed information on the child’s background and needs. Then the adoption panel will recommend whether there should be a match between the child and if positive, introductions between the child and the adoptive family will begin.

Once the child joins the adoptive family, the adopters will apply to the court for an adoption order. With recent changes in the law this is unlikely to be a difficult process as any opposition by the child’s birth parents to the adoption will have been dealt with by the court before the child was placed with the adopters. If there are unexpected problems in the adoption proceedings, the local authority should pay the adopter’s legal costs for representation. In all, a long journey and not without its challenges, but an opportunity to change the lives of the children waiting for a family to call their own and of the adopters hoping to have a child to make their lives complete, while at the same time giving a future to a child in need.

Naomi Angell specialises in children’s law and has particular expertise in international and domestic adoption,children’s cases with an immigration interface, child protection and alternative reproduction cases, such as surrogacy. She chairs the adoption panel of a national adoption agency and has been closely involved in the parliamentary process of the recent new adoption legislation. She is a Consultant at Osbornes and qualified as a solicitor in 1973. Contact her by email naomiangell@osbornes.net or call 0207681 8687.

Pre-nuptial agreements given recognition in English law!

News Source : telegraph

Pre-nuptial agreements were given significant recognition in English law for the first time yesterday after a wealthy German heiress won a landmark legal battle with her former husband. 

Three Appeal Court judges ruled that the assets of Katrin Radmacher – a paper industry heiress said to be worth £100 million – should be protected from her French ex-husband because of the pre-nuptial contract they signed before they married.

They said that in future cases, judges deciding the division of marriage assets should give “due weight” to pre-nuptial contracts freely entered into by the parties.

In what one divorce solicitor described as a judgment that was “hell-bent” on enshrining pre-nups in law, the judges even suggested the agreements could be an alternative to the “stress, anxieties and expense” of divorce hearings in the courts.

Miss Radmacher, 39, had brought her case to Court of Appeal to challenge an earlier ruling in the High Court that she should give £5.85 million to Nicolas Granatino, despite him having signed a contract vowing never to make claims on her if they split up.

That ruling had been made by Mrs Justice Baron, in the Family Division, who had said it would be “manifestly unfair” to hold Mr Granatino to the pre-nuptial contract as such agreements had never been legally binding in this country.

Although the agreement was signed in Germany, the couple married in London in 1998 which was why the case was being heard in England.

The couple lived together in the UK and in New York before the marriage broke down in 2003 when Mr Granatino, 37, left his well-paid banking job to become a £30,000-a-year biotechnology researcher at Oxford University. They divorced in 2006.

In yesterday’s landmark ruling, Mr Granatino’s settlement was cut to about £1 million as a lump sum in lieu of maintenance, with a fund of £2.5 million for a house which will be returned to Miss Radmacher when the youngest of their two daughters, who is six, reaches 22.

His debts of about £700,000 are to be paid off by the heiress, who had always agreed to this settlement.

But the ruling made clear the court was awarding the money for the children – which the pre-nup always stated fell outside its remit.

Lord Justice Thorpe, sitting with Lord Justice Rix and Lord Justice Wilson, said that in any future cases, judges should give “due weight” to pre-nuptial contracts freely entered into.

He said: “In so far as the rule that such contracts are void survives, it seems to me to be increasingly unrealistic.

“It reflects the laws and morals of earlier generations. It does not sufficiently recognise the rights of autonomous adults to govern their future financial relationship by agreement in an age when marriage is not generally regarded as a sacrament and divorce is a statistical commonplace.”

The wording suggests the judges were persuaded by barrister Richard Todd, for Miss Radmacher, who in April argued that the freedom to agree a contract was “at the heart of all modern commercial and legal systems”.

Lord Justice Thorpe stressed that “a carefully fashioned contract should be available as an alternative to the stress, anxieties and expense of a submission to the width of the judicial discretion.”

Emphasising how English matrimonial law was out-of-step with Europe, he also said courts here were “in danger of isolation” on the issue. In France or Germany, Mr Granatino would have been awarded nothing because of the pre-nuptial contract.

The contracts are still not binding under English law, as there is no provision for them under Section 25 of the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act.

In the 47-page judgment, Lord Justice Rix called for Parliament to clarify the law on them, saying he could see “great force” in the argument that they be treated as “presumptively valid”.

The Law Commission is due to report on the matter by 2012 and draft legislation is expected to follow.

David Lister, a partner in matrimonial law at solicitors Mischon de Reya, said it was the most important ruling on pre-nups to date because the judges made clear they wanted it applied across the board.

“They appear to be hell-bent on creating a judgment that says ‘Please take pre-nups more seriously,” he said.

“It is saying they are more likely to be binding then they were before.”

Vanessa Lloyd Platt, another leading divorce lawyer, warned that those who signed pre-nups thinking they were worthless would now be making “a seriously flawed move”.

Although it would take an act of Parliament to “enshrine” them in law, she said the judgment had “effectively created a situation where that is the case”.

“This will open the floodgates for people asking for pre-nups,” she said, noting: “It’s not just the wealthy, it’s filtered down to the middle classes.”

“Lawyers will be advising, ‘It’s better to have one that not.’ ”

In a statement outside court, Miss Radmacher said: “I am delighted that the court accepts that the agreement Nicolas and I entered into as intelligent adults before our marriage should be honoured.

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife wins delay in child custody hearing

Debbie Rowe given time to decide whether she wants to care for two children she had with pop star!

Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson’s ex-wife and mother of two of his children, has won a delay in a custody hearing to give her time to decide whether or not she wants to care for them now the pop star has died.

Yesterday Rowe was quoted as telling NBC4 television: “I want my children. I am stepping up. Yes, I have to.”

But Rowe’s lawyer said later that she was still considering her decision. “I am representing to you now, Debbie has not reached a final decision concerning the pending custody proceedings,” he said.

Jackson’s mother, Katherine, has been granted interim custody of the children as his will stipulated that she be made guardian in the event of his death.

Yesterday Rowe said she was willing to undergo DNA testing to dispel rumours that she was not the biological mother of the children.

She has spent very little time with her children, Michael Joseph jnr, 12, and Paris Michael Katherine, 12. At the time of the couple’s divorce eight years ago, she said in her testimony: “I had the children for him. They wouldn’t be on this planet if it wasn’t for my love for him.

“I did it for him to become a father, not for me to become a mother. You earn the title ‘parent’. I have done absolutely nothing to earn that title.”

The identity of the surrogate mother of the singer’s youngest child, seven-year-old son Prince Michael II, has never been revealed.

Another court hearing will proceed as planned on Monday to decide who will take temporary control of Jackson’s estate. He left all his assets to the Michael Jackson family trust.

A person familiar with the details of the trust said his motherwould get 40%, his three childrenwould share 40%, and the rest would go to children’s charities to be determined later by the trust.

The will specifically left Rowe out of any inheritance. It states: “I have intentionally omitted to provide for my former wife, Deborah Jean Rowe Jackson.”

 

A public memorial for Jackson is planned for 10am (6pm BST) on Tuesday at the Staples Centre in central Los Angeles, according to the office of the Jackson family’s publicist.

Michael Jackson’s Will Not Yet Found!

Michael Jackson

Jackson is thought have had debts of more than £240 million but he retained a half share of the Beatles music catalogue which is said to be worth as much as £600 million.

Micheal Jackson

 

Much of his debts could be wiped out by sales of his records soaring worldwide and there is talk of a DVD of his rehearsals for his London concerts being released.

Jackson family lawyer L. Londell McMillan said there were “reports of [a will] but none has been presented to the family at this time.”

He has been charged with looking after the Jackson family as various camps form to what could be custody battles for his children Paris, Prince and Prince Michael.

Catherine Jackson, the star’s mother, has filed for guardianship of his three children.

Debbie Rowe, the biological mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, has yet to make any statement on what her plans are.

Rowe sued Jackson in 2006 over custody arrangements but settled out of court after winning an appeals court verdict.

The mother of Prince Michael has never been identified, but it is thought unlikely she will have any claim to the young boy.

Any will would be expected to include details of who should take custody of his children in event of his death.

Legal experts in Los Angeles said if Jackson had appointed an executor of his estate they have 30 days to come forward to an petition a court to serve as executor.

Jackson is thought to have grossed over £1 billion in his 40 year career – but his profligate spending left him with little when he died.

Legal experts said determining how the estate is divided up could take months, and even years if legal battles are waged by interested parties.

“This is going to be a major headache. These are matters that could take years and years to settle,” said Stephen J Silverman, an estate planning lawyer based in New York. He said arguments over the estate of the guitarist Jimi Hendrix lasted until 2005, more than 20 years after his death.

Jackson’s estate will also be subject to federal inheritance tax of up to 45 per cent. How much he pays depends on the extent of the trust arrangements he made to keep the money out of the hands of the US Government.

As Jackson was a resident of California his estate could be subject to millions of dollars in state probate fees, which are assessed on the value of the estate before debt.

Micheal Jackson's Neverland

MJ’s mum wins custody of Prince Michael,Paris Michael & Prince Michael II

Michael Jackson

Micheal Jackson's Kids!After the King of Pop Michael Jackson passed away last week at the age of 50, one of the major questions was what would happen to his three children?Well, that seems to have been settled, for now.Michael Jackson’s three children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12; Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11; and Prince Michael II, 7, will be placed under the temporary custody of Michael’s mother, Katherine Jackson, as ruled by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Becklof Monday morning.A second hearing regarding the matter and permanent custody will be held August 3.The Jackson family lawyer Londell McMillan said Katherine was the right person to look after the children."I don't think there will be anybody who thinks that there is someone better," he said Monday on NBC's Today" show."She is a very loving host of other grandchildren."Miss Rowe's legal representative, Marta Almli, has hinted the star's former nurse is not looking for custody.In a statement, Almli said: "Ms. Rowe's only thoughts at this time have been regarding the devastating loss Michael's family has suffered."Ms Rowe requests that Michael's family, and particularly the children, be spared such harmful, sensationalist speculation and that they be able to say goodbye to their loved one in peace."Jackson's Children

Michael Jackson’s children want to stay with grandparents in snub to his ex-wife Debbie Rowe

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife’s hopes of gaining custody of his two eldest children were dealt a blow today as it was revealed they want to move in with their grandparents.

All three of the children, Prince, 12, Paris, 11, and youngest son Prince Michael II – known as ‘Blanket’ – are said to want to live with Joe and Katherine Jackson.

Sources cited by website TMZ.com, who first broke the news of the singer’s death, said they will stay living with the couple at their home in Los Angeles.

Jackson’s family are said to be ‘100 per cent behind’ the idea because it is felt the elderly couple are the only people who can help the three understand their father.

The three are in good health but ‘miss their daddy’, it claims. The site adds that they have ‘no relationship’ with Debbie Rowe, the biological mother of Paris and Michael.

The revelation sets the stage for a bitter legal battle over the singer’s children to accompany the fight over his estate.

Miss Rowe, 50, is preparing to battle Katherine Jackson

The former nurse gave away her parental rights to Prince and Paris in exchange for a £4.2million pay-off ten years ago.

She has only seen the pair, who were conceived through artificial insemination, intermittently but believes she is more equipped to care for them than Katherine.

Fight for Jackson children continues…

  News source : smh.com

June 28, 2009

Michael Jackson at his final rehearsal in Los Angeles

A BITTER legal battle is looming as the mother of Michael Jackson’s two eldest children prepares to fight his elderly mother for custody.

Debbie Rowe, whom he married in Sydney in November 1996, reportedly gave away her parental rights to the children in exchange for a $US8.4million payout from the King of Pop 10 years ago.

Jackson’s three children – Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7 – were reported to be in the care of Jackson’s 79-year-old mother Katherine at the family estate in Los Angeles as the musical clan mourned.

The fight for the children came as the Los Angeles coroner said an autopsy showed there was no evidence of foul play but further tests, that could take up to six weeks, were necessary to establish the cause of death.

Friends of Ms Rowe, 50, have told Britain’s Daily Mail she is ready to fight for her children. “I’m their mother and they need me,” she said.

Ms Rowe is the mother of Prince Michael and Paris. Prince Michael II, also known as “Blanket”, was born to a surrogate mother whose identity has never been made public.

There were conflicting reports over whether Ms Rowe, who separated from Jackson in October 1999, had already signed away her parental rights.

TMZ.com cited a lawyer familiar with the case as saying that Ms Rowe had never had her parental rights legally terminated. That could clear the way for her to gain custody and win a multimillion-dollar settlement.

However, Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman was quoted as saying that the children would likely be looked after by Katherine Jackson. “Probably Mrs Jackson will take care of them; she loves them dearly,” Mr Oxman told the celebrity website Radaronline.

Family law attorney Fred Silberberg said Ms Rowe, who breeds horses in California, stood an excellent chance of securing custody of Prince Michael and Paris. “Generally speaking, in California biology trumps everything,” Mr Silberberg said.

A Jackson confidant, new age guru Deepak Chopra, told CNN he was concerned the three siblings could be split up by a custody battle. “Well, they’re going to be separated, I fear, unfortunately,” Mr Chopra said.

Scott Altman, a professor at the University of Southern California and an expert in family law, said any custody claim by Ms Rowe could hinge on what had been agreed with Jackson at an earlier hearing.

“She signed an agreement purporting to give up her parental rights but then more recently she went to court to seek custody and succeeded in having that agreement declared invalid,” Professor Altman said. “Ultimately they settled that legal disagreement, and she did not pursue a final custody decree. She could come forward and seek custody as a legal parent to the children.”

If Jackson’s family challenged Ms Rowe’s custody claims, and the case went to trial, much would depend on details of the children’s relationship with Ms Rowe. “There are a lot of factual details that we just don’t know about,” Professor Altman said. “How much contact has she actually had with these children over the years? What is the nature of their relationship at a social level? Are the children close to her on a psychological level?

“My assumption is that if this gets to trial, a great deal is going to turn on expert psychological testimony about the children’s relationship with the various caretakers involved and the judge’s impression of that and potentially the children’s own preferences,” Professor Altman said.

Virtually nothing is known about the surrogate mother of Jackson’s youngest child, Prince Michael II, who was infamously dangled over a balcony in Berlin by his late father in 2002.

“I gather she was a surrogate but we don’t know anything about the legal arrangements or whether she’s had any contact with the child,” Professor Altman said.

Jackson’s body was released to his family yesterday but no funeral arrangements were announced. The bizarre nature of his life continued into death, with German doctor Gunther von Hagens claiming: “An agreement is in place to plastinate the King of Pop.”

Dr von Hagens, who is known for embalming bodies in polyurethane, said an agreement had been reached with Jackson months ago for the singer’s body to be plastinated in the moonwalk position and put on show with the plastinated body of his pet chimp, Bubbles.