Paris Jackson has taken a major step in her ongoing battle with the people running her late father Michael Jackson’s estate, filing a fresh objection in a Los Angeles court on Tuesday. The 27-year-old says the two executors in charge, John Branca and John McClain, have gone beyond their powers, held back information and benefited financially while she and her brothers have been left waiting for answers.
In the filing, Paris points out that she and her brothers, Prince, 28, and Bigi, 23, were only given access to the estate’s 2021 accounting this past September. That is roughly four years later than it should have been. She questions why so much money appears to be sitting unused, raising concerns about what she describes as “enormous sums of cash” being kept under the executors’ control with no clear explanation and no investment activity that might benefit the beneficiaries.
She does not hold back in the legal documents. “Paris is increasingly concerned the Estate has become the vehicle for John Branca to enrich and aggrandize himself, rather than serve the beneficiaries’ best interests and steadfastly preserve her father’s legacy,” the filing states, reported PEOPLE Magazine. Her team argues that the estate is being handled in a way that boosts the influence and income of the executors rather than looking after Michael Jackson’s children, who are supposed to be the ones protected by the trust.
Someone close to the estate pushed back hard against her allegations, dismissing them outright. “This is another misguided attempt by Paris Jackson’s attorneys to provide themselves cover… All the beneficiaries are well taken care of by the Estate. This is a weak attempt to change the narrative of their loss,” the source said. The estate has long insisted that Michael’s children have been fully supported and that the executors have acted responsibly and in line with their duties.
Paris claims the figures tell a different story. She says the executors collected more than ten million dollars in compensation in 2021 alone, which she notes is “more than double” what any of the beneficiaries received that same year. Looking at the years leading up to 2021, she estimates that the total amount paid to the executors adds up to around 148.2 million dollars. For her, that raises serious questions about priorities and oversight.
Another key issue she raises is how much cash has been left sitting around. She says more than 464 million dollars belonging to the estate is held in accounts earning “less than 0.1%.” She argues that even conservative investments would have earned dramatically more, estimating that better management could have generated about 41 million dollars in returns.
She also questions some of the entertainment deals the estate has taken on, including the upcoming biopic Michael, where Branca is serving as an executive producer. Her filing claims the estate has “morphed into a private entertainment investment fund managed more for the benefit of Executors and their counsel than its beneficiaries.”
Paris is now asking the court to reject the current accounting entirely and force the estate to produce a complete and corrected version. A hearing has been set for 13 January 2026.
