JQuery Cycle problem in IE8 and earlier

JQuery Cycle problem in IE8 and earlier

I inherited a site that uses the JQuery Cycle plugin. The slideshow is slightly different on the homepage than the inside pages, where the former is merely an <img> as a child of the parent contained, but the latter is a <div> as a child of the parent, and within this div are contained an <img>,<p>, and <span>.

Both sliders are working just fine in every browser, except IE8 and below. In that case, the homepage slider (just the <img>) is transitioning fine, but the inside pages' slider does not fade out/in, and it's also leaving a time gap between the slides.

I tried specifying slideExpr: 'div' as such:
<script type="text/javascript">
    jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
        $('#page-panels').cycle({
            timeout:    10000,
            speed:        3000,
            slideExpr:     'div'
        });
    });
</script>

But that didn't fix it.

Here is the link for the inside pages: http://www.stevenandrewjackson.com/our-unique-estate-planning-process/
Here is the homepage: http://www.stevenandrewjackson.com/

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.