Jackson to Bankroll Ex's Custody Battle

One of the benefits of being Michael Jackson's ex: You win a free lawsuit, all expenses paid.

A judge ordered the pop star to give Debbie Rowe $60,000 for attorney fees as she mounts a custody case against her ex-husband and father of her two children. Jacko has until Sept. 28 to sign the check.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert A. Schnider denied Rowe's original request for $195,000, pointing out that once upon a time she received an $8 million divorce settlement. Rowe, who also scored a house in Beverly Hills, can, however, ask for more moola later.

"She has millions of dollars, so she should be able to contribute to her own fees," Judge Schnider said.

Neither Rowe nor Bahrain's most famous resident was in court Wednesday. Rowe's lawyer, Eric George, told reporters outside of court that he felt the $60,000 was "a reasonable calculation" and that his client has "no present ability" to reimburse her legal camp.

Michael Abrams, Jackson's attorney, will have a sit-down with Rowe's legal reps on Tuesday to try and arrive at a mutual agreement.

"Hopefully all issues will be settled," Abrams said. "In one week, this case may be over." Both sides are due back in court Sept. 18.

Rowe, a former nurse who got hitched to Jackson in 1996 and filed for divorce in 1999, forfeited custody of Prince Michael Jackson Jr. and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson in 2001 after her marriage to the "Billie Jean" singer was declared officially over.

Per court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Rowe gave up her kids because she felt like "an intrusion on their life and they're going to have enough intrusions as it is. I'm absolutely around if Michael ever needs me, if the children need me for a liver, kidney, a hello, whatever, I will always be around for him."

But, "these are his children. I had the children for himÂÂÂ?They're his kids. They're not my kids."

Rowe tried to get her visitation rights reinstated in 2003 after Jackson was arrested on child molestation charges, of which he was eventually acquitted. She filed her motion asking for the $195,000, as well as $50,000 for "living expenses" July 3, while her ex-hubby was still embroiled in the $3.8 million civil suit brought against him by a former business partner, onetime porno producer F. Marc Schaffel. (The jury awarded Schaffel $900,000 and threw a $200,000 judgment Jackson's way in a countersuit.)

In her complaint, Rowe alleged that Jackson had stopped paying out the sums they arrived at during their divorce proceedings--$1 million-a-year for three years and $750,000 per annum for six years after that--in October 2003.

Until these proceedings, Jackson had arranged for Steven Lachs, a private judge, to handle any Princely custody disputes, but L.A. County court officials shuttled the erstwhile King of Pop back into the system this year, where he'll have to sweat the small stuff just like a normal person. The opposing parties were also ordered to publicly file all legal documents related to the divorce this week.

Meanwhile, another person made rich by Jackson's chronically odd behavior is also having a tough time of it these days.

The 26-year-old man whom Jackson paid a $20 million settlement to in 1993 in exchange for dropping molestation charges against him is seeking a permanent restraining order against his own father, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Court documents state that the son of Evan Chandler has accused his dad of hitting him on the head last year with a 12 1/2-pound dumbbell, spraying Mace in his eyes and trying to choke him. The two were living in New Jersey together at the time.

A Hudson County Family Court judge granted the accuser a temporary restraining order against Evan Chandler in August 2005 and dismissed the case, but a New Jersey appeals court reinstated the son's charges and ordered the case to trial.

"The [Hudson County] judge found that the weight could cause serious bodily injury or death," the appellate decision stated. "Thus, the judge was satisfied that [the son] had provided evidence, which if believed, would support a finding of aggravated assault.

"Despite that finding, the judge refused to issue a final restraining order. Given the nature of the attackÂÂÂ?[a judge] could infer immediate danger."

Santa Barbara County prosecutors tried to get the younger Chandler to testify against Jackson in 2005, but he refused, opening the floodgates for his mother, June Chandler, who took the stand and said that Jackson threw a fit when she initially refused to let her then-teenage son sleep in a bed with him in 1993.

June Chandler, who said that she hadn't seen her son in 10 years, stated that she eventually gave in to Jackson's wishes and was rewarded with a gold bracelet. After all was said and done, Evan Chandler won custody of their son after the couple divorced.