{"id":14909,"date":"2026-05-14T21:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/14909\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T21:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:07:14","slug":"paris-jackson-wins-court-battle-over-michael-jackson-estate-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/14909\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Jackson Wins Court Battle Over Michael Jackson Estate Funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris Jackson has won an important legal battle in her ongoing fight over how Michael Jackson\u2019s estate is being managed.<\/p>\n

According to court documents reviewed and reported by PEOPLE<\/a>, a Los Angeles judge ruled that $625,000 in bonus payments made by estate executors John Branca and John McClain to outside law firms must be paid back to the estate.<\/p>\n

“Ms. Jackson’s objection to the $625,000 of bonus payments made in the second six months of 2018 is sustained. The bonus payments are not approved; they are disallowed. The payments shall be returned to the estate,” the motion reads.<\/p>\n

The ruling also gives Paris the opportunity to recover legal costs tied to her challenge.<\/p>\n

“Ms. Jackson may bring a motion for her reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs under the common fund theory for her meritorious objection to the executors’ fee petition,” the court order reads, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

Estate Attorneys Respond<\/p>\n

In a statement shared with PEOPLE <\/a>on May 13, attorneys for Jackson’s estate said that while they “disagree with the decision, we fully respect it and plan to move forward accordingly.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are gratified that the Court itself recognized and praised the work of the executors and its outside counsel in today’s decision,” adding that the executors “created real and substantial generational wealth for the estate’s beneficiaries,”<\/p>\n

The statement continued: “While the Court has previously approved several other bonuses to outside counsel over the years for their extraordinary services, and this was the first time they were the subject of objections, the executors have always understood that legal fees are subject to court approval and have always required outside counsel to agree to return any funds to the estate if the payments were not approved. And, to be clear, none of the $625,000 in bonuses, which represent only a small fraction of the Estate’s expenses for the period in question, were paid to the executors, and the court did not in any way say that the executors had made any inappropriate payments to themselves.”<\/p>\n

Paris Calls the Ruling a “Massive Win”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Paris also shared with PEOPLE in a statement on May 13 that she “has always been focused on what’s best for her family and this ruling is a massive win for them.”<\/p>\n

“After years of delay, the Jackson family will finally get the transparency and accountability measures Paris has fought for,” the statement continued. “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. 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.”<\/p>\n

Jackson’s estate attorneys declined to comment further as reported by PEOPLE.<\/p>\n

A Long-Running Estate Dispute<\/p>\n

Last month, Paris filed legal documents accusing the executors of using a recent status report to \u201cmock and belittle\u201d her.<\/p>\n

Paris has pushed for a clear schedule requiring the estate to submit annual accounting records. According to the filing, she requested “an efficient, transparent, and orderly process,” and accused the executors of “operat[ing] in the dark.”<\/p>\n

She also claimed the executors used the media to \u201cattack\u201d her, calling the behavior \u201cunacceptable,\u201d and pointed to a comment allegedly made by their attorney Jonathan Steinsapir that she was \u201cstrutting\u201d into a March 11 court hearing.<\/p>\n

At the time, Steinsapir claimed to PEOPLE <\/a>in a statement responding to the filing that Paris and her attorneys \u201care 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cThe vast majority of her \u2018claims’ have been either approved by her legal team or by the court in prior years’ accounting, but those facts have been routinely ignored by her attorneys. Others are based on false or misleading information. To be clear, the estate and its executors have never given a single gift to anyone for any reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinsapir also noted that Paris has received $65 million in benefits and will “inherit many hundreds of millions more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Stakes Remain High<\/p>\n

But Paris has continued to challenge how that money is managed. In court filings, she alleged that in 2021 alone, the executors received more than $10 million in compensation from the \u201cThriller\u201d star\u2019s estate, reportedly more than double what any beneficiary received through the family allowance.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the executors\u2019 attorneys told a judge they were owed $115,000 in costs and attorneys\u2019 fees. In November 2025, their anti-SLAPP motion against Paris was granted.<\/p>\n

For now, Paris has secured a significant courtroom win, but the larger fight over transparency and control of her father\u2019s estate appears far from over.<\/p>\n

Kayla is the midday host on Detroit\u2019s 105.1 The Bounce. She started her career in radio back in 2016 as an intern at another Detroit station and worked her way here. She’s made stops in Knoxville, TN, Omaha, Ne and other places before returning to Detroit. She\u2019s done almost everything in radio from promotions to web, creating content on social media, you name it.
\n
\nShe\u2019s a true Michigander, born and raised. So, you can catch her camping or vacationing up north to exploring the downtown Detroit or maybe even catching a sports game. During her free time, Kayla enjoys watching movies, roller-skating, crafting, and music festivals. She and her husband together dip into many of the great things Michigan has to offer. Together they also like to travel.
\n
\nA few hobbies of hers include wine and beer tastings, crafting, hiking, roller skating, movies, home improvement projects, gardening, and festivals. She\u2019s always looking to take on more local events happening in the community.
\n
\nShe loves connecting with the community. When writing, Kayla covers topics including lifestyle, pop culture, trending stories, hacks, and urban culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris Jackson has won an important legal battle in her ongoing fight over how Michael Jackson\u2019s estate is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[637,30,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-14909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paris","8":"tag-michael-jackson","9":"tag-paris","10":"tag-paris-jackson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14909","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=14909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}