Judge says Jackson’s estate can pay for funeral

updated 2:26 p.m. ET Sept. 2, 2009

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson’s estate will pay what are being called “extraordinary” expenses for the pop singer’s funeral, attorneys and a judge said Wednesday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff authorized the current administrators of Jackson’s estate to pay for Jackson’s funeral and interment, which are scheduled for Thursday evening at 7 p.m. PT.

Attorneys for Jackson’s mother, Katherine, had asked the judge to sign off on the expenses, which have not been disclosed.

No one contested who would pay the costs, but Beckloff said he had concerns about whether Jackson’s estate could afford it.

Jeryll Cohen, an attorney for the administrators of Jackson’s estate, said the costs will be paid. She said the debt-ridden estate has enough cash to pay for the funeral.

Slideshow   Michael Jackson: 1958 - 2009 Click to see pictures from the highs and lows of Michael Jackson's career.

“The expenses are extraordinary, however, Michael Jackson was extraordinary,” Cohen said.

Few details about the service have been disclosed. Cohen said during the hearing that part of the reason it was so expensive was because 12 burial spaces were being bought.

Beckloff said normally, costs of a funeral would be paid by the estate after the service. But Jackson’s family couldn’t afford to pay the costs upfront and wait for reimbursement.

Jackson is scheduled to be interred in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale, which is about eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles. He will be placed in the Great Mausoleum, where he’ll join Hollywood legends such as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, W.C. Fields and Red Skelton, as well as “The Last Supper Window,” a life-size stained glass recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.

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