Michael Jackson’s estate executors have spent 16 years without a single disallowed payment, a track record they invoked Thursday while dismissing fresh complaints from the late singer’s daughter as legally baseless and grounded in misunderstanding.
Co-Executors Accuse Paris Jackson Of Another Failed Challenge
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John Branca and John McClain, the co-executors who have overseen Jackson’s fortune since 2009, filed court documents in Los Angeles probate court accusing Paris Jackson of launching yet another failed challenge to their financial decisions.
The 27-year-old heir’s latest objections target the executors’ roles as producers on an upcoming Michael Jackson biopic and their handling of the estate’s 2021 accounts.
The executors’ response stressed their decades of entertainment industry success managing Jackson-related projects. Their productions—including the record-breaking documentary “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” and the Broadway smash “MJ The Musical”—have generated billions in revenue that has benefited the estate and its beneficiaries, including $65 million already distributed directly to Paris.
“The executors recognize that they are, by definition, the ‘grown-ups’ here — that is the whole point of a fiduciary,” the filing states.
“Because of that, the executors must refrain from responding to most of the irrelevant and highly incendiary, personal attacks on them. No payment made by this estate, in its 16 year history, has been disallowed.”
Paris Jackson Challenges Executors’ Decision
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Paris has challenged the executors’ decision to serve as producers on the Michael biopic, citing concerns about self-enrichment and questioning whether they possessed adequate qualifications for the role. The executors countered that their experience speaks for itself.
Attorney Jonathan Steinsapir, representing Branca and McClain, characterized Paris’s position as uninformed to Billboard, “Paris and her attorneys also betray a complete lack of understanding about how the motion picture industry works and the role of producers in it. The objections complain about the executors’ qualifications to act as producers but seem to be wholly ignorant of the fact that the executors have produced several projects involving Michael Jackson. Those efforts have been wildly successful.”
“This Is It,” released in 2009, remains the highest-grossing concert documentary in history—a distinction it maintains even after Taylor Swift’s 2023 theatrical “Eras Tour” release.
Late last year, Paris Jackson and her attorneys submitted a proposal to add a third executor to Michael Jackson’s estate—a position not included in Michael’s original will. According to Page Six sources, the move centers on gaining leverage. “Paris’ legal team spotted an opening here,” one insider explained. “The attorney believes this individual could help secure more control over the Jackson estate’s management.”
Regarding the estate’s cash management during 2021, the executors explained that IRS requirements mandated holding funds in escrow while tax disputes were resolved over the sale of Jackson’s Sony/ATV Music Publishing stake.
Steinsapir issued a statement this week: “Ms. Jackson and her attorneys are once again abusing the courts and the legal system by making a series of false allegations as part of a media campaign to distract from their legal setbacks and the inherent weakness of their case.”