Following the tragic death of Michael Jackson on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, Jackson's biographer and family friend said a custody battle for his three children began between Michael's mother and the children's nanny, according to reports.

Michael's mother Katherine wants the kids, said Stacey Brown, co- author of Michael Jackson Behind the Mask and an old family friend, according to ABC news. But Michael always said he wants Grace, the nanny, to have them if something happened to him. Grace Rwaramba, 42, has worked for Jackson for nearly two decades, starting as an office assistant who handled insurance for his employees.

Meanwhile, Jackson's family lawyer Brian Oxman thinks otherwise.

Probably Mrs Jackson will take care of them, she loves them dearly, said Oxman, according to Sky news.

Michael has three children; Michael Joseph Jackson Junior (12), Paris Michael Katherine Jackson (11) and Prince Michael Jackson II (7).

Click here for the full coverage of Michael Jackson's tragic death.

His first two children were from his marriage to a dermatologist's nurse, Debbie Rowe, in 1996. When they divorced three years later she apparently gave the singer custody as a gift.

Michael's third child - Prince Jackson, also known as Blanket after Michael infamously dangled him outside a hotel room window when he was still a baby - was the result of artificial insemination from a surrogate mother and his own sperm cells. Her identity was never revealed.

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