LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson's estate has acknowledged it has limited some relatives' access to the home shared by the singer's mother and children in the wake of a family feud that turned into a driveway argument last week.
The estate's statement released Monday afternoon does not specify which members of Jackson's family are no longer allowed at the home and says the list is subject to change. The statement says an approved guest list was requested by an attorney for TJ Jackson, the son of Tito Jackson who was appointed temporary guardian of the children last week.
"It is imperative to the estate that from this point forward a safe and appropriate environment be provided for Michael Jackson's children and his mother," the statement reads. The children and Katherine Jackson live in a gated community in suburban Calabasas that is more private than the family's longtime home in Encino, which is on a public street.
The statement was issued in response to an online report by journalist Roland Martin that Jackson's siblings Randy, Janet and Jermaine have been blocked from visiting the home. The trio was present in a July 23 scuffle that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is still investigating as a possible battery.
The Jackson siblings followed a vehicle carrying Jackson's children, Prince, Paris and Blanket, through security gates and "ambushed" the children and their caretakers, an attorney for family matriarch Katherine Jackson said last week. The elder Jackson was out of contact with the children for roughly 10 days while at an Arizona spa, which prompted a missing person's report and concerns about her health.
TJ Jackson, the late singer's nephew, plans to become a co-guardian in an agreement reached last week after Katherine Jackson returned to the home.
Katherine Jackson's attorney Perry Sanders Jr. said last week that TJ Jackson would take over day-to-day operations and staff oversight at the Calabasas home. The move will free Katherine Jackson to focus on the upbringing of the children, who range in ages from 10 to 15, Sanders said.
Siblings Randy, Janet, Rebbie and Jermaine Jackson have signed a letter calling on the executors of Jackson's estate to resign. Randy Jackson has accused the executors, attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain, of trying to isolate Katherine Jackson from relatives who are critical of them.
"It is my fear and belief, that they are trying to take my mother's life," Randy Jackson wrote last week.
Randy Jackson has also claimed his brother's will is a fake, a claim the estate denies.