LOS ANGELES — More details have emerged in the 2002 will constructed by Michael Jackson, including the late singer’s desire for fellow music star Diana Ross to assume guardianship of his children should his mother be unable to do so.
“If Katherine Jackson fails to survive me, or is unable or unwilling to act as guardian, I nominate Diana Ross as guardian of the persons and estates of such minor children,” reads the will, dated and signed by Jackson on July 7, 2002.
While Jackson and Ross were longtime friends, the family matriarch was granted temporary guardianship on Monday of Jackson’s three children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Price Michael II, 7.
Jackson left his entire estate, estimated to be worth $500 million at the time, to the Michael Jackson Family Trust. His 50% stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a company estimated to be worth $2 billion, is widely considered as his most valuable asset.
The singer designated attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain as executors of his estate. Ironically, Branca was rehired shortly before the King of Pop died after serving as Jackson’s primary attorney from 1980 to 2006.
Notably missing from the inheritance is the mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, ex-wife Debbie Rowe, his father Joe Jackson, and his siblings.
“The most important element of Michael’s will is his unwavering desire that his mother, Katherine, become the legal guardian for his three children,” said co-executors Branca and McClain in a joint statement. “As we work to carry out Michael’s instructions to safeguard both the future of his children as well as the remarkable legacy he left us as an artist we ask that all matters involving his estate be handled with the dignity and the respect that Michael and his family deserve.”
