Paris Jackson Seeks Fee Cut in Dispute Over $109 Million Estate Request

Caption: Paris Jackson performs at La Maroquinerie in Paris, France, 2022. Credit: Eb59 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Paris Jackson is asking a Los Angeles judge to reduce the compensation rate used to manage her father’s entertainment business, arguing that a request for more than $109 million in combined payments is unsupported by complete financial accounts.

The late-October motion targets John Branca’s management of Michael Jackson’s estate. Paris wants the rate cut from 15% to 10% of gross entertainment-related income, with the reduction applied retroactively to 2023 and maintained until complete accounts through 2026 are filed, Rolling Stone reported.

The estate rejects the motion as meritless and says Paris’ lawyers have mischaracterized the payment arrangement. The disputed sum covers proposed combined compensation involving Branca, lawyers and his late co-executor, rather than a $109 million personal payment to Branca alone.

Completeness of Accounts Is the Central Dispute

Paris alleges that Branca missed a September 15 deadline he had set for submitting complete financial accounts for 2023 and 2024. Her motion describes some filings as incomplete or little more than placeholders.

The combined compensation request totals approximately $109.2 million. Her lawyers argue that the estate should be able to produce complete and accurate accounts before seeking approval for payments on that scale.

They also seek the legal costs of the challenge, contending that the action could benefit the estate’s beneficiaries, TheGrio reported. Paris is a beneficiary alongside her brothers, Prince and Bigi.

The dispute is not simply about whether documents were filed. The estate says the 2023 and 2024 accounts have been submitted, while Paris maintains they are deficient. Its representatives also say accounts for 2025 and 2026 are not yet due.

Estate Defends Management Arrangement

A spokesperson told Rolling Stone that the executors waived ordinary executor compensation at the estate’s inception. Instead, they receive a separate management fee established by court order for operating Michael Jackson’s business.

That distinction underlies the estate’s objection to how the motion frames the payment request. Paris challenges the justification and documentation for the rate, while the estate argues that its management has generated substantial value.

Its lawyers have credited Branca with transforming an operation carrying more than $500 million in debt after Jackson’s 2009 death into an enterprise worth roughly $2 billion, according to Rolling Stone. Those valuations are the estate’s account of its performance, not a resolution of the current accounting dispute.

Co-executor John McClain died in May at 71, leaving Branca as sole executor, the reports said.

Earlier Bonus Ruling Adds Context

In a separate April 29 ruling, retired judge Mitchell Beckloff required three outside lawyers to return $625,000 in bonuses authorized by Branca. He found that the supporting information did not establish that the payments were just and reasonable.

Beckloff said a specific factual basis was required rather than relying on Branca’s judgment about the value of the legal work. That ruling concerned different payments from those now challenged.

TheGrio reported a December 4 hearing on the latest request. Until the court acts, the proposed rate reduction remains contested, with the two sides disagreeing over both the payment structure and the quality of the records supplied to support it.

References: Paris Jackson Calls Estate Executor’s $109 Million Fee Request ‘Offensive,’ Seeks Reduction | Paris Jackson accuses Michael Jackson estate manager of ‘persistent incompetence’ in new court filing