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Michael Jackson performs during his "Dangerous" tour
in Bangkok (AP) |
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Los Angeles:
Even as a will signed by Michael Jackson putting his
multimillion-dollar estate in a trust for his children and mother is
filed in court on Wednesday, details of his highly-anticipated
funeral remains unclear.
After the reports
appearing in the media earlier in the week that the family is considering Neverland
as a possible burial ground for Jackson, his family issued a
statement saying the pop star would not be buried at his Neverland
Valley Ranch in central California and no funeral or memorial
service would take place there.
Yet the exact
place where the pop star would be buried is not clear. Though few
media outlets reported a memorial service would take place at Los
Angeles' Staples Center arena on coming Tuesday and others pointed
to the city's Coliseum sports stadium, neither the spokesman for
Jackson's family nor the officials with the venues could confirm
these reports.
Michael
Jackson died last Thursday at the age of 50 even as the preparations
for his much talked of UK concert were in full swing. He has left
behind mother Katherine 79, Prince Michael Jackson Jr. 12, Paris
Michael Katherine Jackson, 11 and Prince Michael Joseph Jackson II,
7.
Ever since his
sudden death last week speculations were taking the round over the
cause. Amid the reports that the pop star would have been died due
to certain drugs he might have taken and toxicology results from an
official autopsy could take weeks to determine what medications, if
any, were in his system, Jackson's family has had a private autopsy
performed. However the results of even the private autopsy have not
been released although Joe Jackson said on Monday that the family
would know the results very soon.
According to the
reports widely circulated in the media,
Jackson was said to be
$500 million in debt when he died. But his assets have been reported
to be worth as much as $1 billion, which would roughly approximate
the will's estimated value of Jackson's estate that "exceeds $500
million." The will filed in court on Wednesday puts his assets in
the Michael Jackson Family Trust, which ultimately benefits his
three children, his mother and unnamed charities. His will
specifically omitted his ex-wife Debbie Rowe, the mother of the two
eldest children.
Meanwhile it
is also being reported that the family of Michael Jackson is considering a traditional Muslim burial for him.
Michael Jackson had reportedly converted to Islam in November last
year and taken the name of 'Mikhaail'.
"The family is
considering following the Muslim burial traditions because Michael
would have wanted to be laid to rest in keeping with his new-found
religious beliefs. Michael's brother Jermaine is educating the
family as to the special rites”, X 17 online, a celebrity website
has reported quoting sources close to the family.
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