Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris is now demanding that $600 million be released from her father’s estate to a family trust, accusing the estate’s executor of maintaining an “iron grip” over the late legend’s assets.
One day after attorneys for Paris sharply criticized estate executor John Branca’s compensation, she filed a new petition in Los Angeles court arguing that he has “done nothing” to fund a trust intended to benefit her and her brothers, Prince, 29, and Bigi, 24.
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“Michael intended for his children to become the caretakers of his legacy,” lawyers for Paris write in the Oct. 29 filing, reviewed by Billboard. “Instead, Executor continues to keep each beneficiary beholden to him with an iron grip over when and if monies are distributed to them.”
The testy new filing, which says Paris is “uncowed by Executor’s intimidation tactics,” comes amid an ongoing feud with Branca, a prominent music attorney who has run the estate since Jackson’s sudden 2009 death. Branca has won plaudits for his well-documented financial success, but Paris has repeatedly attacked his continued control over her father’s estate, which remains stuck in probate court more than 17 years after his passing.
In a response statement to the new filing, the estate said Paris is “well aware” that the disputed trusts cannot be funded until the resolution of ongoing litigation with the IRS over the estate’s tax bill, a court battle that has been pending for years. Despite those limitations, the estate said, more than $200 million has already been distributed to her and her siblings.
“Michael Jackson’s will is clear,” the estate said in the statement. “None of his children receive a distribution until they are in their 30s. The Estate looks forward to the time when all issues are resolved so that their trusts can be fully funded as Michael wanted.”
The new court filing from Paris’ attorneys says the three siblings were supposed to start getting paid from the family trust on their 21st birthdays. But instead, she says they get “lesser amounts” that are “dictated” by Branca, who “uses this power to deter them from checking his abuses.”
She says the estate sat on $850 million in cash in December 2024, and currently holds “approximately $600 million in distributable cash” even when various debts and other liabilities are taken into account. The filing seeks a court order forcing the estate to put that money in the family trust.
Paris has been sparring with Branca for the past year. In November 2025, she claimed his work for the estate, including a smash hit Michael biopic, had been designed to “enrich and aggrandize” himself rather than help the family. The estate later called those complaints a “profound waste” of time and money, citing their business success in taking the estate from roughly $500 million in debt to a current valuation of more than $2 billion.
In May, Paris won a court ruling requiring the estate to return $625,000 in improper bonuses it had paid to three outside law firms. Then last week, she claimed in new court filings that Branca was trying to pay himself $100 million without a proper explanation; the estate called that filing “nonsensical” and “absurd.”
The new filing from Paris, in addition to seeking the distribution to the trust, also commented on the broader war with Branca: “When Paris began challenging the administration of the Estate last year … her challenges were met with scorched earth litigation, public attacks, and a multimillion reduction in monies provided to her and her siblings by the Estate. This course of conduct and administration should not continue.”
In its response statement, the estate called the accusation that payments to Paris had been reduced or cut “a complete fabrication.”
