Paris Jackson Prevails in Court Against Michael Jackson Estate Executors

Michael Jackson ’s daughter Paris Jackson has won a major court ruling against the executors of her father’s estate amid a bitter dispute over the estate’s finances.

In a decision last month, a Los Angeles judge sided with Paris and ruled that $625,000 in bonuses paid to three outside law firms by executors John Branca and John McClain were improper and must be “returned to the estate.”

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The executors had argued that the payments, made in 2018, were fair compensation for “extraordinary success” and that they “incentivize hard work” by lawyers. But the judge said a more detailed explanation was necessary to support more than half a million dollars in bonuses.

“On the evidence presented, the bonus amounts paid appear arbitrary — what Mr. Branca determined was appropriate,” Judge Mitchell Beckloff wrote in the ruling, obtained by Billboard .

The judge praised Branca and McClain’s success running the Jackson estate, saying they had “provided exceptional services” to Jackson’s heirs: “There can be no dispute that under the expertise of the executors, this estate has transformed from teetering on the brink of bankruptcy … to the financial powerhouse that it is today.”

But the judge said the specific payments to the three firms — Greenberg Traurig, Saul Ewing, and Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir — had not been properly justified, particularly since the lawyers had already been handsomely compensated in normal legal bills.

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“Ms. Jackson’s objection to the $625,000 of bonus payments made in the second six months of 2018 is sustained,” the judge said. “The bonus payments are not approved; they are disallowed.” The judge also barred future such bonus payments without a court order or written consent of all estate beneficiaries.

In a statement to Billboard on Wednesday (May 13), the executors highlighted the judge’s praise of their work and stressed that the judge “did not in any way say that the executors had made any inappropriate payments to themselves.”

“Ultimately, while we disagree with the decision, we fully respect it and plan to move forward accordingly,” the executors wrote.

A spokesperson for Paris, meanwhile, called the ruling a “massive win” for the Jackson family that would allow them to “finally get transparency and accountability measures Paris has fought for.”

“The Jackson Estate is supposed to be a prudent, fiscally responsible entity that supports the Jackson family — not a slush fund to help John Branca live out his Hollywood mogul fantasies,” the statement from Paris reads. “After months of engaging in sexist, scorched-earth tactics against a beneficiary, it’s time for John Branca to acknowledge his many missteps and act in the best interest of the family he has a fiduciary duty to protect.”

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Paris has been sparring with Branca and McClain for months. In November, she said their work, including the now-released Michael biopic, was designed to “enrich and aggrandize” themselves rather than help the family. She cited the fact that movie star Miles Teller had been cast to portray Branca in the film.

Months later, the executors fired back — calling Paris’ objections “a profound waste of the court’s time and, ironically, the estate’s money.” They cited their well-documented success at generating money for the estate — arguments they made even before Michael went on to be a box office smash.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/pro/michael-jackson-daughter-paris-jackson-wins-ruling-estate/)._