Last Thursday Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, returned from a vacation at a spa in Arizona to her home in Los Angeles, on the heels of losing custody of Michael Jackson's three minor children, Prince, Paris and Blanket. Just the day before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff removed Katherine as the children's legal guardian and replaced her with TJ Jackson, one of Tito's sons, which is what apparently prompted Katherine's quick return. After initially stating her intentions to regain sole custody of the children, 82 year-old Katherine sat down with her attorney, the children and TJ and had a change of heart. On Friday Katherine's attorney, Perry R. Sanders, Jr., announced that early next week Katherine will seek co-guardianship with TJ. Under this arrangement Katherine will handle the children's financial matters (in other words, manage their money as the guardian of their property), and TJ will handle the children's day-to-day well being (in other words, take care of their personal needs as the guardian of their person). According to Sanders, 15 year-old Prince was actively involved in the process and approved of the arrangement on behalf of all three of the children.
Katherine Jackson was Michael Jackson's first choice to serve as the guardian of his children as listed in in his last will and testament. After a brief court scuffle with Debbie Rowe, the natural mother of Prince and Paris (to date the name of the natural mother of Blanket has not been released), Katherine was appointed to serve as guardian of the person and property for all three children in August 2009. It should be noted that in his will Michael named singer Diana Ross to serve as the backup guardian for the children if his mother is unable to serve, so Ms. Ross will need to be notified of the co-guardianship request and given the opportunity to object if she chooses to do so.
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