{"id":12916,"date":"2026-05-08T18:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/12916\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T18:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T18:14:13","slug":"is-paris-jackson-being-influenced-in-michael-jackson-estate-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/12916\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Paris Jackson being influenced in Michael Jackson estate battle?"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NewsNation<\/a>) \u2014 Paris Jackson, the 26-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson<\/a>, has gone public with allegations John Branca and John McClain, the longtime trustees of her father\u2019s estate, have been misappropriating funds and mismanaging one of the most valuable entertainment empires in history.<\/p>\n

In November 2025, Paris<\/a> filed a 47-page legal objection in Los Angeles Superior Court<\/a>, accusing Branca and McClain of sitting on more than $464 million in cash while making virtually no effort to invest it productively.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> for themselves since taking over the estate in 2009.<\/p>\n

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The filing stated Paris was \u201cincreasingly concerned the estate has become the vehicle for John Branca to enrich and aggrandize himself, rather than serve the beneficiaries\u2019 best interests.\u201d The court ultimately dismissed the complaint as without merit and granted the estate\u2019s anti-SLAPP motion.<\/p>\n

In January, the executors\u2019 lawyers filed for over $115,000 in legal costs and attorneys\u2019 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<\/a> the two believe Paris is receiving \u201cterrible advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Paris<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

PASADENA, CA \u2013 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)<\/p>\n

And it seems Jackson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the pattern generally with family members,\u201d McMillan said. \u201cThey\u2019re often manipulated, and people are in their ears. They often trust the wrong people \u2014 or they have the right people at first, and then they go astray.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estate trustees defend handling Michael Jackson\u2019s estate<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That financial performance, however, is itself a source of controversy. The estate\u2019s biggest single transaction, the 2016 sale of Jackson\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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McMillan himself raises the question obliquely. \u201cThe Michael Jackson estate has generated an exorbitant amount of money,\u201d he said, \u201cwhether it\u2019s because they sold assets rather than created value \u2014 that\u2019s one thing versus another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Paris Jackson is a wronged heir finally demanding accountability or a grieving daughter being guided toward a battle she doesn\u2019t fully understand may be the most important question of all.<\/p>\n

In the end, it\u2019s all about the money.<\/p>\n

From Hollywood to the royal family, \u201cThe Scoop\u201d delivers smart, insider revelations on celebrity news, scandals, style and culture with Paula Froelich. Subscribe to her newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(NewsNation) \u2014 Paris Jackson, the 26-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson, has gone public with allegations John Branca and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1465,1466,9667,637,3880,30,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-12916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paris","8":"tag-john-branca","9":"tag-john-mcclain","10":"tag-los-angeles-superior-court","11":"tag-michael-jackson","12":"tag-michael-jackson-estate","13":"tag-paris","14":"tag-paris-jackson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}