Paris Jackson seeks $600 million from father’s estate; says executor withheld her and brothers' inheritance for 17 years

Paris Jackson has demanded that her father Michael Jackson's estate release about $600 million to her family’s trust and has accused its long-time executor of keeping her and her brothers from receiving their inheritance.

In a court filing dated October 29, obtained by news outlet Page Six, the 28-year-old singer asked the judge at the Los Angeles Superior Court to order the estate to distribute $600 million to the Michael Jackson Family Trust. She argued that there was no legitimate reason for the money to be withheld for more than 17 years since her father’s death.

She claimed in the filing that despite the estate generating billions of dollars and accumulating millions in cash, the family trust, which would benefit her and brothers Prince, 29 and Bigi, 24, remained unfunded.

The filing targets John Branca, an attorney and Chairman of the the Michael Jackson Company. He was hired by Jackson in 1985.

Branca had resigned from his post overseeing the Jackson team’s financial matters in 2006. However, he rejoined in 2009, just eight days before the King of Pop died.

According to Jackson’s will, the children were meant to start receiving an income from their respective portion of the trust when they turned 21.

Paris, however, claimed that this never happened and the small amounts they received were overlooked by Branca.

Branca has reportedly used his control over the payments to discourage Jackson’s children from questioning his handling of the estate.

According to the filing, Paris challenged the estate’s administration last year. She objected to what she called "Branca’s non-contractual gifts” to colleagues. Her concerns, however, were met with "scorched-earth litigation", public attacks and a multimillion-dollar reduction in the money provided to her and her siblings.

“This course of conduct and administration should not continue,” the petition stated.

Their father had reportedly intended that each of his children receive one third of their principal in their respective trusts when they turned 30. They would then receive half of their remaining shares at 35, with the balance redistributed at 40. Prince turns 30 in four months, while Paris turns 29 in April and Bigi turns 25 in February.

The petition also states that the estate generated more than $1 billion in pre-tax, pre-expense liquidity from several transactions, including the sale of its roughly 10% interest in EMI Music Publishing to Sony for $287.5 million, the 2020 sale of Neverland Ranch for $22 million and the 2023 deal with Sony, which agreed to pay $750 million upfront for a 50% interest.

The executors previously valued the estate at between $2 and $3 billion.

One spokesperson from the Michael Jackson Estate told Page Six that their estate was prevented from fully funding the charitable foundation and the individual trusts for the beneficiaries due to several legal hurdles, including, in particular, “the ongoing IRS litigation, where they sought $700 million in taxes and penalties from the Estate”.

“While we were able to secure a ruling to significantly reduce that amount, the matter has not been settled and could still change. Further, the claim that the executor has withheld or ‘cut’ payments is a complete fabrication. More than $200 million has already been distributed to or for the benefit of Paris and the other beneficiaries,” they said.

In a response, Paris’ spokesperson told the outlet People, “The Estate is once again deflecting from its own incompetence. Paris called for the trust to be partially funded, something Mr Branca had the ability and obligation to do long ago. After years of delay, Paris had no choice but to step in herself.”

In another legal dispute between the estate and Paris in May, a Los Angeles judge ruled that $625,000 in bonus payments made by the estate’s executors to outside law firms in 2018 must be returned to the estate after sustaining Paris’ objection to the payments.