Paris Jackson asked a Los Angeles judge to slash estate executor John Branca’s compensation, calling his paperwork failures “intolerable” — and the estate fired right back.
The fight over Michael Jackson’s money has a new round, and this one is about the paperwork. Paris Jackson has asked the Los Angeles County Superior Court to cut executor John Branca‘s compensation from 15 percent to 10 percent of the estate’s gross entertainment-related income — for 2023, 2024, and every year after that until a 2026 accounting is filed, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.
In the filing, Paris accuses Branca of showing “persistent incompetence” when it comes to filing financial statements on time, claiming he filed late or incomplete statements, per TMZ. Her sharpest point is the contrast she draws inside the documents: while Branca sought approval of $109,219,648.27 in compensation to the co-executors and a law firm, he still, she claims, failed to complete basic accounting disclosures. She calls that alleged failure to fulfill his basic responsibilities as executor “intolerable,” per TMZ, and she has also asked the court to award her attorneys’ fees and legal costs, arguing that her fight on these issues would benefit the estate itself.
The estate did not let the filing sit unanswered for a news cycle. A representative for Michael Jackson’s estate told TMZ: “It is an understatement to say that this motion is completely without merit, nor is it argued on facts.” The rep’s core argument is a definitional one: the executors, the estate says, waived executor compensation from the estate’s beginning and have never taken any. What they are paid instead, per the estate, is “a separate, court-ordered management fee for operating the hugely successful Michael Jackson business.”
The rep went further, calling the penalty Paris seeks nonsensical on timing grounds — arguing that the 2023 and 2024 accountings she cites have already been filed, and that the 2025 and 2026 accountings are not required to be filed for another six and 14 months, respectively, per TMZ.
None of this is happening in a vacuum, and TMZ’s own reporting fills in the recent history. In documents the outlet obtained earlier this month, Branca submitted a yearly accounting report showing Paris had received roughly $6.3 million in benefits over the course of the year. And just last month, TMZ reported, Branca pushed back on Paris’ earlier request for $1,165,481.90 in legal bills. In other words, the two sides were already trading filings about money and fees before this week’s motion landed — this is an escalation of a running dispute, not the start of one.
What makes this round worth watching is that both sides are really arguing about the same word: accountability. Paris’ filing frames the issue as transparency — if the numbers cannot be filed completely and on time, the pay attached to them should shrink. The estate frames it as a record — a business it describes as hugely successful, run under court-ordered fees, being challenged with a motion it says is not argued on facts. A judge, not a headline, gets the next word.
The 247 Take — Pop estates rarely produce quiet paperwork, but this one is now a genuine feud with receipts on both sides: Paris is swinging at the fee, the estate is swinging at her facts, and the King of Pop’s business remains the prize neither side will stop fighting over.
Sources: TMZ
