Chinyere Okoye
2 July 2009
Lagos — Michael Jackson's memorial service will hold Tuesday morning, in the Staples Centre, the 20,000-seat coliseum in downtown Los Angeles where Jackson rehearsed his show the night before he died.
This is coming as the ex-wife, Debbie Rowe had vowed to fight over the custody of her two childrens she had with the late star.
No other details about the service, set to begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, were revealed by a person who said he had been briefed by a representative of the family.
The news came amid the frenzy of information some conflicting, that has followed the death of Jackson.
CNN yesterday learnt that the family trust created by Jackson to receive all his assets includes his mother, his children and a list of charities, according to a person with direct knowledge to the contents of the trust.
Katherine Jackson's 40 per cent share would go to Michael Jackson's three children after her death, the source said.
The children, aged 7, 11 and 12, will also share 40 per cent of the estate's assets and the remaining 20 per cent will benefit charities designated by executors of the will, the source said.
On Wednesday, a federal law enforcement official said the Drug Enforcement Administration had joined Jackson's death investigation, once again fanning speculation that drugs may have been involved in the pop icon's passing.
Earlier in the day, the Jackson family said they would not hold a public or private viewing of his body at Neverland Ranch, as had been reported.
And though Jackson's will, made public Wednesday, placed his entire estate in a family trust, the document that described the trust was not filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.
"He was such an enigma in life, why would we expect him to be anything different in death?" said Antoni Devon, a Jackson fan who huddled with other music lovers at a makeshift memorial for the singer outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
Debbie Rowe, the ex-wife of Michael Jackson has said that she will fight for custody of the two children she had with the late pop icon.
"I want my children," Ms Rowe said in an interview with the NBC TV network in Los Angeles yesterday. Ms Rowe is the mother of Prince Michael, 12, and Paris Michael Katherine, 11. A third child, Prince Michael II, 7, has a surrogate mother.
Jackson's mother has been given temporary custody of the children. The star, who was 50, died after suffering heart failure at his Los Angeles home last week Thursday.
In a 90-minute telephone interview, Ms Rowe said she was prepared to undergo DNA testing to prove she was the children's biological mother.
She said she would also seek a restraining order to keep Jackson's father, Joe, away from them, the channel's website reported.
"I am stepping up, I have to," she was quoted as saying. Ms Rowe was left out of Jackson's will, which was drawn up in 2002 and details of which were made public this week. "I have intentionally omitted to provide for my former wife, Deborah Jean Rowe Jackson," the document states. Ms Rowe surrendered her parental rights in her divorce settlement with Jackson, but an appeals court later reversed the decision.
'In 2003, Ms Rowe appeared in footage released by Jackson in response to a controversial documentary which raised allegations of inappropriate behaviour with children by the star.
In it, Ms Rowe described her family as "non-traditional", saying her children were her gift to Jackson. "My kids don't call me mom because I don't want them to," she said. "These are Michael's children."
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