Michael Jackson asked in his will that famed American singer Diana Ross care for his children if his mother is unable and left nothing to his ex-wife, the mother of two of his children.
According to a will dated 7 July 2002, Jackson left his estate, estimated at the time at $500m, to a trust to be administered by his mother Katherine Jackson.
He asked that his mother care for his three children: son Michael Joseph Jr, known as Prince Michael, 12; daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11; and son Prince Michael II, 7.
Jackson requested that Ross, a longtime friend and mentor from Jackson's Motown days, take custody of the children should his mother be unable.
The will includes language that expressly omits from his largess Debbie Rowe, an Australian nurse to whom Jackson was briefly married and who bore Jackson's two oldest children. Jackson apparently left nothing for his father, Joe, with whom he had an unhappy relationship.
John Branca, Jackson's longtime lawyer, and John McClain, a music executive and a family friend, were named as co-executors of the will.