LOS ANGELES - MICHAEL Jackson's family wants a judge to delay the appointment of two men as temporary administrators of the pop superstar's estate, a person close to the Jacksons said.

The family is looking for the delay so they can look deeper into his affairs, to see if another will emerges, and to accommodate Jackson's memorial service on Tuesday, said a person close to the family who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorised to speak publicly.

'It has been very insensitive, particularly to this family, that you would even schedule a court hearing on the status of the mother, the day before she has to go to the cemetery for her son,' the Rev. Al Sharpton, a friend of the Jacksons, said on ABC's 'Good Morning America' on Monday. 'It's almost insulting.'

The person who spoke on condition of anonymity said on Sunday that the family wants the delay in naming attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain, who are designated in a five-page will filed Wednesday as administrators to shepherd Jackson's estate into a private trust.

Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, was granted some limited powers over the singer's estate days after his death. But because Branca and McClain are named as executors in the 2002 will, it's expected that they would be granted more authority to oversee Jackson's estate, estimated in court filings as being worth more than US$500 million (S$729 million), in Monday's scheduled hearing.

Jackson's mother and those close to her want 'time to further investigate the circumstances and individuals that were surrounding Michael Jackson during his final days,' the person close to the family said.

'We don't have the answers,' Rev. Sharpton told ABC. 'But we do have the questions, and we know how to make those questions loud and clear. We owe it to Michael to get to the bottom of what happened.'

In court filings, attorneys for Katherine Jackson ask Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff to delay naming Branca and McClain as the estate's administrators. Attorneys for the two men argue their appointment is crucial to controlling Jackson's diverse financial interests and its liabilities, which include refunds due on a series of London concerts that have been canceled, and several lawsuits.

The person close to the Jackson family said late Sunday that Katherine Jackson also wants the delay to see if any newer wills emerge. An older will had already been presented, the person said.

'She wants to know what happened to her son before appointing individuals to take over his estate worth over a billion dollars,' the person said. -- AP