Judge Delays Randy Jackson's Lawsuit Against Ex-Wife

A judge today delayed a hearing on a lawsuit by one of Michael Jackson's brothers—who wants a paternity case default judgment obtained by his former wife set aside—pending a determination of whether the dispute is a civil or family law issue.

against Alejandra Jackson, who also was once married to another of his siblings, Jermaine Jackson. According to the suit, Alejandra Jackson filed a paternity case against Randy Jackson in August 1989 concerning their daughter, Genevieve Jackson. She maintains he was served with the petition, but he denies she did so, the complaint stated.

Alejandra Jackson obtained a default judgment against Randy Jackson in December 1990 with a finding that he was the girl's father and a child support order of $1,200 a month, according the suit. Randy Jackson did not learn of the judgment until July 2008, when county child support officials tried to levy his bank account, the suit said.

Alejandra Jackson's attorney, Elizabeth Bell, today told Judge Alan Rosenfield that the identical issues are pending in the original family law court case. Today's hearing—in which Rosenfield was scheduled to set dates for future hearings—was postponed by the judge until Jan. 25 so that a supervising judge can determine whether the case should be in civil or family law court. Bell said outside the courtroom that she and her client prefer to have the case heard in family law court. She declined to talk about Randy Jackson's allegations.

Randy Jackson was not present, nor was an attorney on his behalf. Randy Jackson maintains that in place of child support, he and his former wife agreed in October 1993 that he would provide her, Genevieve and her son, Stephen Randall Jackson Jr.,, the suit states. Genevieve Jackson is now 22 and her brother is 19.

Alejandra Jackson said she did not want to go to court and was satisfied with the financial arrangements given her and her children, according to the suit. The 1993 agreement was lost for several years, but was finally found in September 2009 by one of Randy Jackson's attorneys, the suit stated.

A demand for acknowledgement and satisfaction of judgment was served on Alejandra Jackson, but she did not accept it and continued living in the Jackson family home for 19 years with her children ``like kings and queens'' until last March, according to the complaint. Randy Jackson—whose full name is Steven Randall Jackson—alleges his former wife deliberately failed to tell him about the default judgment so he would not have a chance to defend himself against it. He says more than $5,000 has already been taken from his bank account in satisfaction of the default judgment.