The battle over Michael Jackson’s fortune has reached a boiling point. A Michael Jackson estate lawsuit now pits the King of Pop’s children against the very man their father hired to protect his legacy.
John Branca, the attorney who controls the $3.5 billion estate, is suing Paris Jackson and her brothers for simply asking questions about where their father’s money is going.
The core dispute revolves around estate executor compensation. Court filings reveal Branca has paid himself $148 million since Jackson’s death in 2009. That figure exceeds every dollar distributed to Michael’s three children combined.
Paris requested full accounting of the estate’s finances. Instead of providing transparency, Branca filed a lawsuit against her. The legal move forces the Jackson children to spend their inheritance defending themselves.
The numbers tell a stark story. In 2021 alone, Branca and his co-executor John McClain pocketed more than $10 million in compensation. That amount doubled what any single beneficiary received from the family allowance that same year .
The situation carries an uncomfortable historical footnote. Michael Jackson fired Branca for alleged financial misconduct years before his death. Then, just eight days before the singer passed away in 2009, Branca was mysteriously rehired .
Now the same attorney has sued his former client’s children. Paris claims Branca has taken even more than the reported figures, which is why she demanded to see the books. His response was a lawsuit.
The legal filings have turned personal. Paris says Branca’s attorneys described themselves as the “grown-ups” in court, a comment she calls patronizing and sexist . They accused her of “strutting” into hearings.
To add insult to injury, Branca is also forcing the kids to foot the legal bill for his lawsuit against them. Their father’s own money is being used to attack them in court.
Power and greed, Paris argues, have consumed the man entrusted with her father’s legacy.
