(NewsNation) — Paris Jackson, the 26-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson, has gone public with allegations John Branca and John McClain, the longtime trustees of her father’s estate, have been misappropriating funds and mismanaging one of the most valuable entertainment empires in history.
In November 2025, Paris filed a 47-page legal objection in Los Angeles Superior Court, accusing Branca and McClain of sitting on more than $464 million in cash while making virtually no effort to invest it productively.
She also alleges that they paid out millions to outside law firms (more than they distributed to any individual beneficiary in 2021) and collected over $148 million in compensation for themselves since taking over the estate in 2009.
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The filing stated Paris was “increasingly concerned the estate has become the vehicle for John Branca to enrich and aggrandize himself, rather than serve the beneficiaries’ best interests.” The court ultimately dismissed the complaint as without merit and granted the estate’s anti-SLAPP motion.
In January, the executors’ lawyers filed for over $115,000 in legal costs and attorneys’ fees, arguing Paris was legally required to reimburse them for winning the motion. Paris has said she will continue the fight regardless, but her brothers, Prince and Bigi, have chosen to stay out of the fight entirely, with a Jackson associate saying the two believe Paris is receiving “terrible advice.”
Paris Jackson leaves after the Chloe Fall/Winter 2025-2026 Womenswear collection presented Thursday, March 6, 2025. in Paris. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
PASADENA, CA – JANUARY 31: Michael Jackson performs at the Super Bowl XXVII Halftime show at the Rose Bowl on January 31, 1993 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)
And it seems Jackson’s former lawyer, Londell McMillan, agrees, noting that throughout entertainment history, heirs to major estates have found themselves at the center of legal battles engineered by outside lawyers and advisors who stand to gain enormous fees from prolonged litigation.
“That is the pattern generally with family members,” McMillan said. “They’re often manipulated, and people are in their ears. They often trust the wrong people — or they have the right people at first, and then they go astray.”
Estate trustees defend handling Michael Jackson’s estate
Paris has not publicly named the attorneys advising her in the estate dispute, but the move against Branca and McClain represents a significant legal and financial escalation. The trustees, for their part, have vigorously defended their management of the estate, pointing to its extraordinary financial performance as evidence of sound stewardship.
That financial performance, however, is itself a source of controversy. The estate’s biggest single transaction, the 2016 sale of Jackson’s 50% stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing for $750 million, was celebrated by some as a masterful deal and criticized by others as a shortsighted liquidation of a crown jewel asset that would have continued to appreciate in value for generations.
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McMillan himself raises the question obliquely. “The Michael Jackson estate has generated an exorbitant amount of money,” he said, “whether it’s because they sold assets rather than created value — that’s one thing versus another.”
Whether Paris Jackson is a wronged heir finally demanding accountability or a grieving daughter being guided toward a battle she doesn’t fully understand may be the most important question of all.
In the end, it’s all about the money.
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