E! Online reports today that the first and second autopsy of the Thriller singer have altered his body to such a great degree that any more examinations would be impossible. Jackson’s brain and other tissue have already been removed and embalmed, and the body’s been thoroughly worked over with various tests. However, we have yet to hear a peep about the results of these tests, since the autopsy reveal has been postponed indefinitely. Guess we’ll just have to keep guessing about what really happened to the King of Pop.

A Jackson family source tell E! News that despite a recent spate of reports claiming that Mama Katherine is so convinced of foul play in her son’s death that she wants the King of Pop’s body to go under the scalpel yet again, “there is neither a plan nor a need for another autopsy.”

But it’s not just that another autopsy is unplanned and potentially unnecessary. It may also be unfeasible, thanks to the current state of the star’s already worked-over remains.

The source said that all tissues and samples needed, which include his brain, were already removed and that Jackson’s body is currently embalmed and more or less “a shell” of little or no forensic value.

(E! Online)

At the beginning of the week, a custody plan between Rowe and Katherine Jackson was finalized, giving the Jackson matriarch custody of Paris, Prince, and Blanket. NY Daily News reports that Rowe, the surrogate mother of Michael’s two older children, was “concerned” about father Joe. Joe Jackson has been dogged for years by allegations that he abused Michael.

So the Jackson clan jumped into damage control mode, with Joe preparing a court declaration that promises he won’t meddle in the childrearing decisions of his grandkids. As part of the deal, Joe got barred from living at the family compound, where the kids will stay. Let’s hope Katherine Jackson knows what she’s doing!

More from the NY Daily News:

Joe Jackson has promised a judge he will step aside in the raising of Michael Jackson’s three kids.

“I do visit the family residence from time to time and will continue to do so; however, I will not be involved in raising the children,” the patriarch said in a two-page court declaration.

He said all “decision-making authority” will rest with his wife, Katherine Jackson.

Joe Jackson can’t live at the family compound in Encino, Calif., under the custody deal between Katherine and Debbie Rowe, biological mom of Michael’s two eldest children.

Rowe was concerned about Joe’s influence because Michael had accused his dad of physical abuse, a source told the Daily News.

Why does dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein think he has any authority over the kids’ future? The surprise request made on behalf of Klein has the gossip mags churning out more rumors that the dermatologist is the real biological father of Jackson’s elder two children. What a tangled web of connections! Klein has yet to confirm or deny these rumors.

More from E! Online:

Acting on behalf of Dr. Arnold Klein, attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan made a surprise appearance in court today to express his client’s concern for the “education, health care and welfare” of Jackson’s two eldest children, Prince Michael and Paris.

Not that Klein, who still has never flat-out denied that he is the biological father of those kids, thinks that their grandmother Katherine Jackson shouldn’t be taking care of them.

Klein is merely “acting on promises he made to Michael with respect to ensuring the long-term health and stability of the children and their ability to enjoy as normal of a life out of the spotlight as could be reasonably possible,” Kaplan and cocounsel Bradley P. Boyer said in a statement Monday night.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who earlier today awarded Katherine Jackson custody of her three grandchildren and agreed to visitation rights for Paris and Prince’s biological mother (and Klein’s former assistant), Debbie Rowe, said that Klein had no standing to challenge his decision at this time.

We hope that now the kids will finally get a chance at a normal life. It seems like Katherine Jackson has a good head on her shoulders. Good luck!

From LA Times:

The mother of Michael Jackson will retain custody of his children, and the biological mother of the two elder children will visit and maintain her legal parental rights under an agreement reached by both sides,  The Times has learned.

Katherine Jackson, 79, the late pop icon’s mother, and Debbie Rowe, 50, who bore Jackson’s two older children, also agreed to mutually hire a child psychologist to advise them on how, when and where Rowe’s visits should take place, a knowledgeable source said.

The agreement will go before a Los Angeles judge Monday, and both sides expect the judge to approve it, the source said. Rowe did not ask for custody. “Debbie is really happy” about the arrangement, said the source, refusing to be identified because the agreement has yet to be announced.

The source said Rowe did not receive any money under the arrangement and will pay half of the fees for the child psychologist.

Neither side made any demands that were rejected, the source said, and the arrangement was agreed to without contentious negotiation.

Katherine Jackson is simply looking for “a seat at the table” in all matters surrounding her late son Michael’s estate, according to her attorney.

On Tuesday, reports surfaced that Katherine had hired attorney L. Londell McMillan to challenge the authority of the two men her son named “co-executors” of the Michael Jackson Family Trust in his 2002 will, a move that had sharply divided the family and had many speculating that Jackson’s father, Joe, was attempting to grab control of the Jackson estate.

But in an interview with TMZ published early Wednesday (July 22), McMillan said that his client had no intention of challenging Jackson’s will, but as far as executorship was concerned, “She deserves a seat at the table, minimum.” Read on…

Of course, this “co-executive” situation is supremely strange. Was Michael Jackson pressured into that idea? Maybe we’ll never know.

This, however, is a ruling Debbie Rowe and other people may challenge in the future. The two older children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. and Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson, were born when Rowe was still married to their father, making her their legal mother. Rower reportedly signed away her parental rights to the children after the divorce, but an appeals court reestablished her parental status in 2006. California attorney Gloria Allred commented, “Katherine would have to show it would be detrimental to the kids for Rowe to have custody. That’s a very heavy burden.” (source)

It seems that even though Jackson most likely has his wishes stated in his will (which will be filed in California courts later this week), those wishes would still only be used as a suggestion and not be legally binding. Not legally binding? Why on earth do we even have wills? We can only hope that whatever happens, it is truly what’s best for the children.

Michael Jackson’s upbringing was shaped by two very different parents.

His mother, Katherine Jackson, has been portrayed by her children as the loving glue that bonded the family together, while her husband, Joe, was the harsh disciplinarian whose iron hand not only shaped one of the most successful musical families in the world, but also elicited enough fear in his superstar son that it sometimes made him ill.

Now the couple of 60 years stands at the center of a custody drama surrounding their grandchildren.

Michael Jackson’s will, filed in 2002, designated his mother as caregiver for Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and “Blanket,” 7.

It is the latest installment in the many trials that have tested the Jackson family, not least of which has been the unexpected loss of its most famous member.

“[Katherine's] taking it real hard,” Joe Jackson told ABC News about his wife’s coping with their son’s death. “When you start talking about Michael, she starts crying.” Read on…

(Photo: Harry Wad)

Celebrities have been speaking out for days to express condolences to the Jackson family and to share their memories of the King of Pop. Now, it seems that one celebrity may be taking a more active role in the MJ saga. Jackson’s close personal friend, singer Diana Ross, has been named in his will as a backup guardian for the three Jackson children.

This revelation comes from Jackson’s five page will filed in court this morning, reported on by the New York Times. You may recall that Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mother, now has temporary guardianship of the brood. The will specifies that if Katherine is unable to serve as guardian, Michael’s wish was for icon Diana Ross to take over.

More:

Jackson said if he and his mother Katherine, who is now 79, died while the children were still minors then Miss Ross should look after them.

His wishes were set out in a five page document written in 2002 and held by one of his lawyers that has now been filed in a California court.

It said: “If Katherine Jackson fails to survive me, or is unable or unwilling to act as guardian, I nominate Diana Ross as guardian of the persons and estates of such minor children.”

Miss Ross, 65, who has sold more than 100 million records, was one of Jackson’s closest friends and a mentor to him when he was a child star.

And it doesn’t end there-the Jacksons’ dirty laundry is getting aired out for the world to see. The other thorn in their side is Michael Jackson’s doctor Conrad Murray, who they contend is responsible for shooting up the singer with Demerol.

According to the Herald Sun:

The Jackson family yesterday unleashed an extraordinary attack on his personal doctor, Conrad Murray, and ordered a second autopsy.

Reports claimed Dr Murray injected Jackson with a powerful dose of prescription painkiller Demerol shortly before his death.

After a three-hour interview with detectives, Dr Murray denied he was a suspect.

The Jacksons’ trauma was also played out on the custody front with the children’s natural mother and their long-time nanny both staking claims.

Grandmother Katherine Jackson, 79, insisted she wanted to have the children.

But nanny Grace Rwaramba arrived from London intending to seek custody.

Ms Rwaramba, 42, worked for Jackson for more than a decade and claims to have a close, warm relationship with Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II, 7.

Jackson’s former wife, Debbie Rowe, 50, has also declared she wants the three children.

The eldest two are biologically hers and while she doesn’t have regular contact with them, Ms Rowe has told friends she would fight “tooth and nail” to keep them.

The Jackson matriarch gained temporary guardianship of the tykes and may be granted control of the pop star’s entire estate, according to NY Daily News. Seemingly the only obstacle to K. Jackson’s quest would be if Debbie Rowe, the estranged mother of Michael’s two children, entered the picture. Rowe has yet to claim custody.

Michael Jackson’s 79-year-old mother won temporary guardianship of his three children Monday and moved to take control of his estate.

Michael Joseph Jr., 12, Paris Michael Katherine, 11, and Prince “Blanket” Michael II, 7, who have lived an extraordinarily sheltered life with their eccentric father, could inherit millions.

“I don’t think there will be anybody who thinks that there is someone better” to have custody than Katherine Jackson, Jackson family attorney Londell McMillan said on NB’s “Today” show.

“She is a very loving host of other grandchildren.”

Katherine Jackson and Joe Jackson, the father he feared and hated, separated in the 1980s. His address was listed as “to be provided” in her custody filing.

McMillan said the family hasn’t heard from Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jackson’s two oldest children. She reportedly has had no involvement in the children’s lives and the family’s filing lists her whereabouts as “unknown.”