Paris Jackson Accused of ‘Media Campaign’ in Michael Jackson Estate Dispute Tied to His Will
Paris Jackson Accused of ‘Media Campaign’ in Michael Jackson Estate Dispute Tied to His Will
Maggie EkbergThu, March 26, 2026 at 7:17 AM UTC
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(Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
A legal fight between Paris Jackson and the executors of her late father Michael Jackson's estate has erupted into open warfare — and it's playing out in court filings, dueling statements, and headlines just 30 days before the Jackson biopic Michael hits theaters.
At the center of the dispute are co-executors John Branca, the entertainment lawyer who represented the King of Pop for decades, and John McClain, a veteran music executive. Named as co-executors in Michael Jackson’s will, the two have managed the estate since his death in 2009 and say they turned what was more than $500 million in debt into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, according to court filings. Paris, however, disagrees with how they've handled the money — and now the estate is pushing back hard.
Jonathan Steinsapir, the attorney representing Branca and McClain, accused the 27-year-old singer and her legal team of "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," in a statement to Billboard on Tuesday, March 24.
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The latest clash is part of a bigger probate battle that has been brewing for months. Back in June 2025, Paris challenged roughly $625,000 in so-called "premium payouts" to three law firms for unrecorded attorney time, according to People. The estate pushed back, telling the outlet that those lawyers were "instrumental and critical" to major wins — and revealed in an October court filing that Paris had already received approximately $65 million in benefits from the estate.
Not long after, retired Judge Mitchell Beckloff granted the estate's anti-SLAPP motion in part and struck portions of Paris's earlier petition. But she wasn't done. On Nov. 18, she filed a new objection — this time targeting how the estate handled its finances in 2021, records she said were not provided until September 2025. In the filing, she accused the executors of leaving more than $464 million in cash earning less than 0.1%, putting their own interests ahead of the beneficiaries, and alleged the estate had become "the vehicle for John Branca to enrich and aggrandize himself," according to Page Six.
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The estate later sought more than $115,000 in fees after winning the anti-SLAPP motion, and Paris pushed back again in early March 2026, calling the effort a waste of resources. In a brief reported by Deadline, her side said Branca had "lost sight of his fiduciary obligations."
Now the biopic is front and center. TMZ reported that Paris questioned whether casting Miles Teller as Branca was a "peculiar and presumably costly" choice and raised concerns about tens of millions in reshoots. The executors, in filings reported by Billboard, called her objections "meritless" and "a profound waste of the court's time and, ironically, the estate's money." The outlet also reported that the estate said Paris showed "a complete lack of understanding about how the motion picture industry works."
Meanwhile, a source close to Paris told Deadline, "It's a shame the executors are lobbing personal attacks against a beneficiary instead of providing basic transparency and accountability."
The estate's allies, however, say the numbers tell a different story. A source told Page Six the $625,000 at the center of Paris’s complaint amounts to “one-tenth of one percent” of the estate’s reported $600 million Sony catalog deal. “That’s a rounding error,” the source said. “This is about control. Paris' attorney sees the opportunity. This man wants to take control of Michael Jackson's estate.”
Michael, starring the “Thriller” singer's nephew Jaafar Jackson, opens in theaters April 24.
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This story was originally published by Parade on Mar 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
