Judge: "Mr. Jackson Takes Nothing Under This Estate"
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 28: Joe Jackson, father of the late singer Michael Jackson poses in the press room during the 2009 BET Awards held at the Shrine Auditorium on June 28, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Joe Jackson
Over the objection of Michael Jackson's father, the special administrators of the singer's estate Tuesday were named its executors by a judge who ruled the family patriarch had no standing to challenge the appointments.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff said he would not agree to hold a separate hearing -- requested by Joe Jackson attorney Brian Oxman -- before making his ruling, saying he had enough information before him to make the appointments of John Branca and John McClain.
The judge also said that other than his claims of entitlement to a family allowance, Joe Jackson was excluded from assets from the estate under his son's will or the family trust and therefore had no standing to challenge McClain or Branca.
"Mr. Jackson takes nothing under this estate," Beckloff said. "That was a decision his son made. I don't see how he's affected by the appointment of Branca or McClain as executors."
Oxman told Beckloff he hoped that an appellate court would come to a different conclusion.
The attorney argued Joe Jackson indeed has standing to challenge the appointments of Branca and McClain and that the only fair way for his client to have his case made was through a hearing.
"It will shock you, it will shock anyone who looks at it," Oxman said of the evidence he wanted to present against Branca and McClain.
The attorney said Branca and McClain were obligated to seek an allowance for Joe Jackson just as they did for the singer's mother.
"They discriminated against him. They hurt him badly," Oxman said.
But Beckloff said Joe Jackson can make his case for an allowance with retroactive pay at the next hearing on Dec. 10, so he would not be hurt by the appointments of Branca and McClain.
Oxman also lashed out at the singer's mother, Katherine Jackson, and her new attorney, Adam Streisand, for dropping her own objections earlier today to the McClain-Branca appointments.
"She has struck some kind of deal now with the executors and administrators as far as we can tell," Oxman said. "She has reneged on her obligation to her family."
Oxman said Streisand told him that Katherine Jackson intended to go forward with her objections.
However, Streisand denied such an agreement existed.
"Mr. Oxman does not have a clue," Streisand said.
Jeryll Cohen, one of the Branca-McClain lawyers, said she also has not done any inquiry into whether Joe Jackson is entitled to an allowance.
In another ruling today, Beckloff made public the nearly $1 million cost to the estate to stage the pop star's funeral. The interment itself cost nearly $600,000.
Jackson was pronounced dead around 2 p.m. June 25, just hours after he was found not breathing at the rented Holmby Hills mansion where he was staying while rehearsing for a planned series of 50 concerts in London.
The 50-year-old performer died from an overdose of a prescription sedative. A criminal investigation into his death is continuing.
