The ongoing legal tug-of-war surrounding Michael Jackson’s multi-million-dollar estate has taken a sharp turn. Paris Jackson, the late King of Pop’s 28-year-old daughter, has officially filed a motion in Los Angeles County Superior Court requesting a judge to reduce the management compensation paid to long-time estate executor John Branca, accusing him of repeated delays regarding mandatory financial accounting filings.
According to court documents obtained from the filing, Jackson is seeking to slash Branca’s management fee from 15% to 10% of the estate’s gross entertainment-related revenue for 2023, 2024, and subsequent operational years until full accounting records are formally submitted.
“Paris therefore requests that the Court impose the only remedy that might prove effective in shaping Executor’s conduct, and incrementally reduce Executor’s compensation for 2023 and 2024 from 15% to 10% of the gross entertainment-related income,” the court document reads.
Central to Jackson’s motion is a critique of proposed compensation figures totaling $109,219,648.27 intended for co-executors and outside legal counsel, arguing that substantial payouts should not move forward without timely, transparent court disclosures:
“This instance, however, is particularly offensive in that Executor’s defective filings include a request for approval of more than one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in compensation for the co-executors and the Ziffren firm. It is unclear how Executor could calculate and distribute such an amount with any confidence and yet be unable to file complete and accurate accountings years later,” the motion states.
A spokesperson for the Michael Jackson Estate forcefully rejected Jackson’s filing, maintaining that the executor team has operated entirely within legal and judicial boundaries:
“It is an understatement to say that this motion is completely without merit,” the estate’s representative stated, clarifying that executors John Branca and John McClain waived traditional statutory executor fees decades ago, receiving instead court-sanctioned management fees for running the complex entertainment enterprise. The representative further noted that 2023 and 2024 accounting reports have been submitted, with 2025 and 2026 filings not yet legally due.
Responding directly to the estate’s pushback, a legal representative for Jackson issued a firm follow-up statement:
“Enough of the smoke and mirrors — Paris is asking to reduce the management fee. Executor Branca has repeatedly failed to meet deadlines ordered by the judge that are in place to provide Paris and her siblings visibility about how the Estate is being run. Since money is what motivates Executor Branca, this is the only way to enforce the timeline he agreed to.”
The high-stakes filing comes on the heels of a legal victory for Jackson in May, when a judge ordered $625,000 in unauthorized bonus payments made to outside law firms to be returned to the estate trust. Recent financial disclosures reveal that Jackson received approximately $6.3 million in estate distributions during 2024 toward personal taxes, living expenses, and legal representation.
As the court reviews the motion, Paris and her brothers, Prince and Bigi Jackson, remain focused on ensuring their father’s enduring artistic legacy is managed with total clarity and institutional accountability.
