Paris Jackson, the daughter of the late pop icon Michael Jackson, has filed a legal motion alleging that a group of lawyers managing her father’s estate are “skimming money” through irregular payments and lack of oversight.
Paris, 27, is one of three beneficiaries of the estate, along with her brothers Prince and Bigi. Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50. Since then, the estate has been overseen by two executors: attorney John Branca and A&R executive John McClain, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
According to court documents obtained by Us Magazine, Paris has requested a judge intervene and compel Branca and McClain to disclose paperwork related to third-party legal fees requested between 2019 and 2023.
Her legal motion highlights:
Concerns about “extraordinary fees and costs” not yet approved by the court
Alleged $125,000 and $250,000 “gifts” paid to counsel without beneficiary consent
A five-year delay in seeking approval for these payments
“No client would give such gifts to her lawyers out of her own pocket,” the motion argues. “Worse still, Counsel made the payments knowing the beneficiaries long ago objected to the practice.”
The filing further alleges that a “closely-knit, highly-compensated” network of lawyers is taking advantage of limited oversight to enrich themselves from the estate.
“As painful as it is to say in print,” the motion states, “the present records suggest a group of lawyers is exploiting the Executors’ lack of oversight to skim money from the Estate — in plain view.”
The motion criticizes delays in fee approval and claims these delays have masked inappropriate payments, harming transparency and the beneficiaries’ ability to challenge them.
Attorney Jonathan Steinsapir, representing the estate, has denied the allegations, defending the actions of the executors and the legal team.
“The Estate’s business judgment has generated billions of dollars for Michael’s children,” he said. “They’ve used that same judgment to fairly compensate a world-class legal team that helped secure those results.”
Steinsapir called the claims “baseless and defamatory,” noting that Paris’s new legal team has “no meaningful experience” in entertainment law.
“We are confident the Court will reject these claims, just as it has approved the estate’s accounts for the past 16 years.”
Last month, reports surfaced that some legal fees stemmed from ongoing legal “issues” involving one of Michael Jackson’s ex-wives.
