Michael Jackson, ex-wife settle child custody battle

Pop singer Michael Jackson and ex-wife Debbie Rowe have reached a settlement in their long-running custody battle over their two children.

No details of the settlement were released.

Lawyers for both sides confirmed on Friday that a deal was in place concerning payments to Rowe and visitation rights to Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., known as Prince Michael, and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson.

"We're still dealing with the details, but it addresses all of the disputes between the parties," said Rowe's attorney, Marta Almli, who refused to disclose the particulars.

"It's a done deal."

The two sides have beenbattling since 2003, when Jackson was hit with child molestation charges.Rowe had previously relinquished all her parental rights.

"I think both parties are satisfied," said Michael L. Abrams, Jackson's lawyer.

Split after3 years

Rowe and the pop icon were married in 1996.She filed for divorce three years later,and thatwas finalized in 2000.

A year later, she terminated her parental rights, declaring Jackson was a "wonderful father to the children" and that she did not "wish to share any parenting responsibilities."

Jackson allowed her to see the children, but usually in distant locales outside the U.S.

Rowe even testified on behalf of her ex-husband at his trial, describing him as a loving father.

Soon after, she filed for temporary custody, partly out of concern over the criminal case and also partly because of the singer's connection with the Nation of Islam. Rowe, who is Jewish, has said she believes the religious group is anti-Semitic.

Court documents indicate she last saw the children in 2005 and has not seen them since Jackson left the U.S. after he was acquitted on all child molestation charges in June of that year.

Jackson has another child, Prince Michael II, but the boy's mother has never been identified.