Michael Jackson’s estate claims pop star’s mother Katherine received $55M since his death in 2009
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Katherine Jackson, the 93-year-old mother of the late pop star Michael Jackson, has received over $55 million since the King of Pop’s death in 2009, says his estate.
The staggering figure emerged as the latest development in the legal tiff between Michael Jackson’s mother and his estate.
Per RadarOnline, after being at loggerheads with the estate for a long time regarding the sale of the late King of Pop’s music catalog, Katherine is now reportedly trying to reimburse her attorney’s fees from MJ’s estate.
An estate representative recently shared with TMZ that they have filed legal documents against Katherine as she is trying to make the estate pay for her attorney’s fees. The representative claimed that Katherine has amassed quite a fortune to pay the fees herself.
Katherine Jackson amassed $33M from monthly allowances
The estate representative told TMZ that Katherine received most of the staggering amount as her monthly allowance during the last 15 years.
They alleged that she received a total of $33 million from her monthly allowance that’s over $160,000. The estate has also spent more than $15 million to buy and modify her luxury home, apart from paying for her transportation, a private gardener, a chef, and security.
The estate’s motion comes after MJ’s son Blanker ‘Bigi’ Jackson, 22, filed legal papers earlier this week to block Katherine from getting estate funds to pay for her legal fees in her dispute with the estate itself.
Now the legal executors are hitting back saying Katherine can afford to cover her own legal fees after getting paid over $55 million in the past 15 years.
Per RadarOnline, the executors argued, “The Petition does not indicate the source from which Mrs Jackson’s counsel seeks to have the requested attorney’s fees and expenses paid. It is not clear whether she is seeking payment from the probate estate or from the Trust.”
They continued, “To the extents Mrs Jackson seeks payment from the probate estate, the Petition lacks merit because it relies on provisions of the Trust, claiming that payment of legal fees is required by provisions of the Trust authorizing the Trustees to make payments “in [their] absolute discretion, for [Mrs. Jackson’s] care, support, maintenance, comfort and well-being"."
Legal dispute over Michael Jackson’s music catalog
The legal dispute between Katherine Jackson and the estate stemmed from a lucrative deal authored by MJ’s estate for the sale of a portion of the ‘Thriller’ hitmaker’s music catalogs.
Per RadarOnline, the executors initially asked the court to approve the sale in 2022, which was countered by Katherine, who was then supported by MJ’s son, Bigi.
The two parties did multiple rounds of back and forth with Katherine opposing the deal claiming the ‘Billie Jean’ songstrel was averse to the idea of selling his musical rights. MJ’s children, Paris and Bigi too opposed the deal with Bigi mentioning he opposed it on emotional grounds.
The executors, nevertheless, pushed toward the sale claiming Katherine had a pattern of opposing lucrative deals.
“The Estate was teetering on the verge of collapse, with more than $400 million in debt that encumbered Michael’s most significant assets and little or no liquidity or means to service that debt,” said the executors in their legal filing.
They further claimed, “Through creative thinking, hard work and business savvy—and, of course, Michael’s extraordinary creative legacy—the Executors transformed the MJJ Business into a profitable enterprise.”
Following a lengthy legal battle, the court approved the sale of the musical rights, despite the family’s plea against it.
Katherine went on to appeal the decision soon, claiming the estate had no authority to sell the catalog. The estate executors fired back saying they had every right to sell the rights.
On February 9, they shared that the estate had sold half of Michael Jackson’s music catalog to Sony for $600 million.
The news outlet reported that Katherine was awarded a few small victories against the estate as a part of her appeal. It was then MJ’s mother who asked for the reimbursement of her attorney’s fees amounting to a little over $561K.
While Bigi was supporting Katherine in her initial appeal, he was not involved in his grandmother’s subsequent appeal of the court’s ruling that approved the sale of the music catalog.
Per Daily Mail, Bigi’s attorneys claimed that the 22-year-old feels the appeal will not be a successful one and he doesn’t want to depreciate the value of the estate with expensive legal bills.
His legal team urged the court to “use its best judgment” while ruling for Katherine’s plea to be reimbursed for her attorney’s fees accumulated before her appeal.
