The executors of Michael Jackson’s estate have opposed a request by his daughter, Paris Jackson, for about $1.16 million in attorneys’ fees and costs, arguing that the amount goes beyond the legal work connected to her successful challenge to $625,000 in bonus payments made to outside law firms.
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The latest dispute is part of Paris Jackson’s long-running legal battle with estate executors John Branca and John McClain over financial management, legal fees and transparency in the administration of her late father’s estate.
Earlier this year, Paris secured a ruling requiring three outside law firms to return a combined $625,000 in bonus payments authorised by the executors in 2018. The court found that the estate had not sufficiently justified the bonuses and ruled that they were not approved and should be returned.
The disputed bonuses were paid to third-party law firms and not to Branca or McClain personally. The estate has consistently maintained that the executors understood that attorneys’ fees were subject to judicial approval and that outside counsel were required to return payments that were ultimately disallowed.
The earlier ruling also allowed Paris to seek reasonable legal fees and costs incurred in pursuing the successful objection.
Paris has now sought approximately $1.16 million, but the estate argues that the figure includes legal work that was not directly tied to the issue on which she prevailed.
According to the estate’s latest objection, Paris should only recover fees attributable to the successful portion of her challenge and to the actual financial benefit obtained for the estate. It also disputes her calculation of the benefit she says resulted from the litigation, contending that some amounts included in her computation had already been voluntarily returned.
The court has not yet determined how much Paris will ultimately receive in legal fees.
The $625,000 ruling arose from payments made in the second half of 2018 to three outside law firms. Retired Judge Mitchell Beckloff, acting as a referee in the probate proceedings, found that the estate had failed to provide a sufficiently detailed basis for concluding that the bonuses were just and reasonable.
The ruling also imposed additional safeguards for future payments to estate lawyers. The executors were directed not to make bonus payments to attorneys without either the written consent of all beneficiaries or an order of the court or referee. The estate was also required to withhold a portion of attorneys’ fees pending judicial approval.
Paris’s representatives described the decision as a victory for the Jackson family, saying it would improve transparency and accountability in the administration of the estate.
The estate, while disagreeing with the ruling, said it respected the decision and highlighted that the same order praised Branca and McClain for transforming the estate’s finances following Michael Jackson’s death in 2009.
Court filings and reports have said the estate was more than $500 million in debt when the singer died. The executors have relied on that history in defending their management, arguing that their stewardship transformed the estate into a highly valuable entertainment business and generated substantial wealth for its beneficiaries.
Paris, however, has raised broader concerns over financial oversight and the way fees and other payments have been handled, arguing for greater scrutiny of transactions involving the estate’s lawyers.
The current $1.16 million fee dispute is separate from earlier proceedings in which the estate successfully invoked California’s anti-SLAPP law against portions of Paris’s broader claims. In that matter, the executors themselves sought reimbursement for legal fees incurred in defending against those allegations.
The estate’s latest position is that Paris should receive compensation only for the legal work directly connected with the $625,000 bonus issue on which she succeeded.
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