As this blog has noted occasionally in prior posts, media-generating family law matters involving celebrities are sometime noteworthy for being far more than mere fluff or tabloid fodder.
Take the recent matter involving Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, for example. In a recent and representative story concerning the rumors swirling around her alleged disappearance, discussion also centered on the concept of a court-appointed guardian ad litem, co-guardianship and child custody. Court process was also invoked throughout the story.
And, of course, given that the matter related to the famous Jackson family, myriad media accounts dished in an ample dose of abduction-related possibilities, kidnapping, alleged family squabbling, conflicting account s of Katherine Jackson’s health and accusations that executors of Michael Jackson’s estate were abusing his mother and potentially defrauding her.
Much of the intrigue seems to have now abated, with Katherine Jackson emerging from an Arizona spa and returning to her Calabasas, California, home to be with her three grandchildren.
Rumors began circulating nearly immediately after she left the California residence recently. Four of her children took her to an Arizona spa for 10 days, where she was largely incommunicado. During the time, phone communications from one of her grandchildren suggested that she was missing. A missing person report was subsequently filed.
During her absence, one of her son’s children — an older first cousin of Michael Jackson’s children — was named by a judge as temporary guardian of the grandchildren. He was in the process of filing a petition to become permanent guardian when Katherine Jackson emerged, denied she had been mistreated or coerced in any matter, and stated her wishes to be a co-guardian along with her son. A court-appointed guardian ad litem confirmed that such an arrangement was agreed to by all the grandchildren.
The court is presently considering the petition.
A family representative says that Katherine Jackson “is eager to simply enjoy her great relationship with these children, while deeding over some of the stressors that go hand-in-hand with being a guardian.”
.Source: CNN, “Katherine Jackson to share custody of Michael Jackson’s children,” Alan Duke, July 28, 2012