Simpson’s Ex-In-Laws Assume Child Custody

O.J. Simpson has agreed to transfer temporary legal guardianship of his two children to Louis and Juditha Brown of Dana Point, the parents of his slain ex-wife.

Louis Brown said Wednesday that Simpson’s agreement formalizes an earlier understanding between the former football star and the Browns about the children.

Sydney Simpson, 8, and Justin Simpson, 6, have been living with their maternal grandparents in Monarch Bay since June, when Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found slain outside her Brentwood condominium.

O.J. Simpson has pleaded not guilty to the slayings. His trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 26.

Louis Brown said the agreement, filed in Orange County Superior Court in Orange last week, formally spells out details of the children’s care that were not addressed in a letter Simpson gave his former in-laws in mid-June.

The Browns filed a petition on July 27 seeking legal guardianship of the children.

“The letter didn’t give us enough leeway to take care of the children in any kind of emergency, to enroll them in school, to do other things that we need to do to take care of them,” Brown said Wednesday. “It apparently didn’t include enough details.”

He said he expected to learn today whether the court would approve the arrangement without a hearing, which had been set for next Monday. “We’d like to avoid the publicity,” he said.

The court document, signed by Simpson, the Browns and their attorneys, states that the Browns are seeking temporary guardianship until Simpson “is able to resume his legal and physical custody . . . upon his release from incarceration,” the document states.

Associated Press contributed to this report.