Law 102: Michael Jackson’s kids – not over yet
Today, I read in the paper where Katherine Jackson and Debbie Rowe have come to an understand about Michael Jackson kids. Ms. Jackson will have custody and Ms. Rowe will have visitation. Ms. Rowe’s parental rights are restored. Ms. Rowe will not receive any money beyond what she’s receiving.
They should have added a phrase that says “……..For NOW”.
Now, some of you are probably thinking, “yaaaaay, the kids stay with the Jacksons and Ms. Rowe won’t get any money.”
Again, I say “……. For NOW”.
Now, I’m not an expert but this move may have been a brilliant move on the part of Ms. Rowe:
1) Visitation re-establishes a relationship. The simple fact that may have hurt Ms. Rowe was that she had NO relationship with her children at all. They didn’t know who she was. They didn’t know she was their biological mother. They didn’t visit her. Her ability to demand their custody may have been hampered by these facts (coupled with the alleged fact that she relinquished some of her parental rights). By allowing visitation, she may be able to establish a relationship with the children. Depending on the type of visitation (overnight, extended visits, etc.), she may be able to spend a great deal of time bonding with the children.
2) Agreement revives parental rights. The agreement allegedly revives her parental rights which gives Ms. Rowe the ability to assert an interest in the children as it relates to their well being. As time progresses, the more time she spends with the children, the stronger her position becomes as it relates to asserting her parental rights.
3) Ms. Jackson’s age may be an advantage. I know this is a morbid point but Ms. Katherine Jackson is 79 years old. Hopefully, by the grace of the almighty, Ms. Jackson lives to be 109 years old. With one child being 12 and the other 11, these kids could reach the age of majority (18) by the time Ms. Jackson turns 86. However, with the youngest being, 7 years old, Ms. Jackson may be 90 years old. If everything works perfectly, Ms. Jackson will have the pleasure of watching all 3 children graduate from high school. However, if she passes away before this time, Ms. Rowe may be able to use the time she has had establishing a relationship with her children as an opportunity to modify the custody arrangement.
4) No money now may mean more money later. Recognize one fundamental point – ‘The money follows the kids’!!! If Ms. Jackson passes and Ms. Rowe is awarded custody, she still stands a great likelihood of receiving money on behalf of the children. Now, someone can easily argue that a trustee should handle the money but make no mistake, she can still make a compelling argument that if she gets the kids, she should be able to handle the money.
5) Estates rights v. Parental rights. I know this is prospectively speaking but the simple fact is that if Ms. Jackson passes away over the next years, Ms. Rowe (depending on how often she visits the children) may be able to assert her custody rights. This situation may get tricky if Ms. Jackson inserts a provision in her will regarding the children OR if the estate emphasizes that the children should go to the secondary custodian, Diana Ross. Make no mistake, Ms. Rowe will have a compelling argument that her Parental rights trumps any will that may be in effect at the time of Ms. Jackson’s passing.
6) Best interest of the child. All of these points sound like a very elaborate and integrated chest match. However, at the end of the day, the governing factor will always be “What’s in the best interest of the children”. Whatever course of action, this factor always takes precedence.
Right now, both parties did the smart thing. They didn’t go through a lengthy fist fight which would have been extremely high profile. For Ms. Jackson, she has the ability to ensure that her children maintain a close relationship with the only family they know. Ms. Rowe will develop the relationship she never had with the children. In the end, this looks like a very elaborate and complex chest match with the children being used as pawns. In any legal proceedings, you have to move one piece over and lose a piece before you get a check mate.
Just remember, this situation is far from over.
Law 101: The MICHAEL JACKSON case
I know this sounds blasphemous to all of those die hard and loyal MICHAEL JACKSON fans but I truly believe that Michael Jackson will teach us MORE in death than he did in life.
Now, before you start calling me a devil, set my name on fire and condemn me to the dark depths of the abyss, hear me out.
It is fairly well settled that Michael Jackson was a very private person. His affairs were private and there were a multi-tude of things that attributed to this privacy. Now that he has passed, we are getting access into his life in ways we never imagined possible. Before you spend countless hours rummaging through the tabloid for needless info about the King of Pop, stop for a second and look at all of the legal lessons we can learn from the King of Pop:
1) CONFIDENTIALITY agreements – Most people don’t realize that the reason Michael Jackson was able to keep a great deal of his employees from communicating his private exploits were due to confidentiality agreements. These agreements were probably written in the form of basic contract provisions. (i.e. you provide a service, I’ll pay you this amount). However, when you have the ability to have access to icon like MJ, you are going to have access to information the general public would want to know. As such, these ‘confidentiality agreements’ typically allows for legal remedies if they are broken (i.e. if you talk about something, we will sue). DO you think you have enough money to go against the King of Pop for Breach of Contract?
2) FAMILY LAW – Get ready for the RUMP SHAKER of all Family Law cases. You have 3 kids involved. A will that designates a grandmother as primary and a non relative secondary. A mother who’s parental rights have NOT been terminated but may not have had any role in the kids’ lives for more than 10 years. The “BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILDREN” standard typically dictates most jurisdictions but this situation is going to be unique in terms of where these children should be raised.
3) ESTATE LAW – We all know the importance of having a Will. For a brief second, we thought that MJ didn’t have one. What’s wild is that MJ has a complicated estate with his minor children as heirs and various monetary, real, and intellectual property as part of the estate. At some point, somebody is going to contest the validity of the will and so now, you have the mother of all fist fights regarding the assets laying in wait.
4) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY – The trickiest part of the puzzle is MJ’s Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property is that property that was created as a result of your intellect. Intellectual Property consists of property such as Trade Secrets, Trade Marks, Copyrights and Patents. Most people probably think that MJ should have been oozing with money. However, they don’t realize how much of his property actually were intellectual property such as royalties and the Beatles Catalogs of music. As each day passes, you’re going to find out that MJ probably had more intellectual property in hand as opposed to real property. You’re going to, also, find out how much value his albums were worth and how profitable was each album AFTER Thriller!
5) MEDICAL MALPRACTICE – With the death of MJ being ‘allegedly’ attributed to the medication that he was taking, be prepared for some concern about the possibility of medical malpractice. Any time you have a situation where an individual may die while in the care of a health care provider, medical malpractice is something that usually comes into play.
6) BUSINESS LAW – This part of the law is probably the most profound. As you are probably hearing, alot of information is coming to light regarding the advice MJ was receiving from his business confidants. As such, you will start to get a great deal of insight into the decision making and feedback MJ was receiving that may have guided his decisions (especially as it relates to Civil Cases that he may have settled)
7) CRIMINAL LAW – As most of you remember, the MJ trial was extremely high profile. However, a great deal of information about the details of the case was not provided. In light of recent ‘allegations’ that some of the victims may have ‘potentially’ fabricated the charges against MJ, the public will be reintroduced to the details and nuances of the trial in a whole different perspective.
I know this may sound harsh but there are so many people out there who want money, power, fame and everything that comes along with it. Here’s a man who STILL holds the world’s record (25 years later) for the most albums sold and is STILL in the GUINESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS as the world’s greatest entertainer. He has been in the music business as a top selling performer since the age of 5. Now, if he can have all the money problems and asset problems that he had and he was CLEARLY a multi-millionaire entertainer, what makes you so special?? Take a moment to really study the blessings and hardships that this man experienced. Maybe you will learn some valuable lessons from MJ that can benefit you through your career.
The Points and Pitfalls of Paying for Legal Services
I know you’ve the seen the commercials:
“We won’t get a DIME unless we win the case for you!”
You see it all the time and you know what it means. If you are injured in an accident or are injured on the job, you probably will have seen some commercial on the TV that talks about “NO FEES” unless the attorney wins the case.
In most situations, this payment arrangement for a personal injury or workers compensation case is correct. The PROBLEM is that most people THINK that this mechanism for payment is applicable to ALL types of legal cases! Sorry, folks, that simply is NOT true!
Here’s a few POINTS for you who are trying to figure out how to find out if you are going to have to pay for legal services:
1) PRO BONO – i.e. FREE!! Most states have either a requirement or a courtesy requirement that attorneys provide pro bono work. Pro Bono work is usually dictated by the type of case and the financial situation of the client. This situation is best becausd literally, it costs you nothing!
2) CONTINGENCY – these cases are those that are taken based on the notion that you attorneys getting paid their fees are CONTINGENT on their ability to win the case. States vary but these cases are typically common for Personal Injury, Products Liability, Social Security, Workers’ Compensation, and Medical Malpractice, to name a few. The reason these type of case are typically CONTINGENT FEE cases is that these case usually take a while to develop and they usually offer a large payout at the end. In addition, the attorneys who take these cases are taking a RISK that they will win the case. As such, the attorneys typically put money in the case on the front end of the case to develop it with the hope they will get their payment (usually based on some statutorily or legally defined percentage arrangement).
3) BILLABLE HOURS / RETAINER FEE – Most cases usually fall into these categories. When an attorney is asking you to pay a retainer fee, she knows that she’s going to be spending time to adequately your case so this fee will allow her to have a pot of money to POOL from when she’s doing the work. The attorney typically recognizes that they may need you to pay additional monies along the way to ensure that they are working at their billable hour rates. Put simply, these cases are cases where you are asking the attorney to do something for you and the attorney wants payment for the work you’re wanting them to do.
Now, there are variations of these different situations (i.e. partial retainer, partial contingency) and each state differs but these are some things that may be useful to you before you shop for an attorney.
Now, here’s some PITFALLS that tend to throw people off:
1) There are SOME cases that CAN NOT be a contingency fee. In Florida, Criminal Cases and Family Cases can NOT be contingency. For one, courts don’t want attorneys jacking up the monies that can be obtained in Family law cases in order to increase their fees. In Criminal, quite frankly, you’re fighting to preserve the liberties of an individual so there is no FEE to obtained.
2) If you call, the clock runs! People, if you are paying a retainer fee, anytime you call, you will be charged! So many times, people think that attorneys give COURTESY services and get offended when they see that they have been charged for the calls. Listen, you don’t call your doctor to shoot the breeze and if you talk about medicals, they are GOING To make you come in to the office. Well, legal services are the same way. You didn’t HIRE a friend. You HIRED an attorney!
3) You can’t expect to fight a forest fire and only pay for a shot glass of water! So many times, people find themselves FIRED up to want to fight someone based on some injustice. Now, outside of the contingency fee arrangement, you may have to pay for legal services to accomplish this goal. Now, if you have a really complicated case that is going to take a lot of time and energy, you can’t expect a law firm to provide you services just because this is a great opportunity to take down a giant. Attorneys are fighting giants every day so if you want to go ‘toe to toe’ with a big dog, you better be prepared to pay ‘BIG DOG” money to hire them if they require it.
4) Attorneys love a good fight but they gotta feed their family, too! I can’t tell you how many times people pause when I tell them what I charge. Here they are with this lengthy break down of how they have been tried and all this injustice and how they want to drag the other person or company into court and make them fight for every dollar! Then, when you tell them the charge, you hear “I have to pay?” or “I have to pay now?” or “Can you get the case started and I’ll get you on a payment plan?”. Trust me, attorneys can tell you stories about the number of clients who have “stopped paying” or “walked away” or “switched out” in the middle of their case because they didn’t have the money or never intended to pay the money. Attorneys are business people, too. Don’t get me wrong. Most attorneys don’t mind a good fight but let’s be real! You can catch a beat down on the street corner for free. Why go into court and get beat up for free.
5) There is nothing wrong with searching for different attorneys but still be prepared to PAY!! The ultimate issue most people face is that they don’t understand that in the long run, it’s better to come prepared to pay SOMETHING than it is to ‘roll the dice’ and hope that the attorney will take the case on faith. Even if it’s a certain amount of money as down payment, the attorney you’re dealing with will look at you infinitely more favorably if they know that money is going to come as opposed to looking for a hook up.
Paying for legal services is just like anything else. Every state is different but just remember, you get what you pay for and it’s important to know in the beginning what you MAY have to pay so if you need to walk away, you can do so before you waste anyone’s time.
