Paris Jackson Sues Family Estate Over $600M Unfunded Trust 17 Years After Father Death
Paris Jackson demands her late father's estate release $600M to family trust, claiming executors have withheld funds for 17 years despite billions earned.
POLICY WIRE — Los Angeles, USA — Paris Jackson has initiated legal action against her late father’s estate, demanding the transfer of $600 million to a family trust and asserting that she and her brothers have been denied these funds for over seventeen years since the singer passed away in 2009.
A petition filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on October 29 by Paris claims that while the estate has amassed billions of dollars in the intervening years, the Michael Jackson Family Trust remains empty. The trust was established to provide financial support for the 28-year-old Paris and her brothers, Prince, 29, and Bigi, 24.
According to the legal documents, the siblings were eligible to receive income from the trust once they reached age 21, with specific major distributions scheduled for the ages of 30, 35, and 40.
Paris alleges that current executor John Branca and the late John McClain provided the children with only minor payments rather than funding the trust as the terms required. The filing states that as liquidity became increasingly available, the children’s trust remained completely unfunded despite the passage of time.
The singer is now seeking an order from a Los Angeles judge to force a partial distribution of assets to the trust. Her legal team points to lucrative property sales and business deals that significantly bolstered the estate, including the 2020 sale of Neverland Ranch for $22 million.
While the executors previously valued the estate between $2 billion and $3 billion, the Michael Jackson Estate responded with a statement claiming it cannot fully fund the trusts until outstanding legal matters are settled. The estate noted that more than $200 million has already been paid to Paris and other beneficiaries.
The estate maintained that Michael Jackson’s will is explicit regarding the children not receiving full distributions until they enter their 30s. They expressed a desire to resolve all remaining issues so the trusts can be funded according to the late artist’s wishes.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
