Seventeen years after Michael Jackson’s death, his daughter Paris Jackson has returned to court with a blunt request: move $600 million from the late singer’s estate into the family trust created for his three children. In a petition filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Paris argues that the Michael Jackson Family Trust remains unfunded despite the estate generating billions of dollars through music deals, property sales and other business ventures, reported LA Times. The estate’s executors have pushed back, saying they cannot fully fund the trusts until several legal matters are resolved, including a long-running dispute with the Internal Revenue Service. According to PEOPLE, the IRS initially sought about $700 million in taxes and penalties, although the estate says a ruling significantly reduced that amount. The matter has not been settled, and the estate argues it could still change.At the centre of the dispute is a familiar question in celebrity estates: when a fortune grows far beyond what anyone expected, how quickly should the beneficiaries receive what was promised to them? Paris says the answer is now. The estate says the answer must wait until the tax exposure and other legal risks are clearer. Read more details about this incident here, as per the reports.
What Paris says was promised
Paris Jackson and Michael Jackson (Image Source: Left – Instagram/@parisjackson)
Michael Jackson died in June 2009 at age 50, leaving behind three children: Prince, Paris and Bigi. Paris, now 28, says the trust was designed to give each child income from their share when they turned 21, followed by portions of the principal at 30 and additional distributions at 35 and 40.Her filing says that arrangement has not operated as intended. Prince is 29 and approaching 30, Paris turns 29 in April, and Bigi turns 25 in February. According to Paris, none of them has begun receiving the trust distributions contemplated by the estate plan, leaving them reliant on discretionary payments controlled by the estate’s remaining executor, John Branca. “More than seventeen years after his passing, Michael Jackson’s family trust remains unfunded,” the petition states, as quoted by PEOPLE. Paris also alleges that the executors said in 2011 that they would seek court approval to begin funding the trust, but that no such petition was ever filed.
Why Paris wants $600 million
Paris Jackson files new documents in court and demands USD 600 million from her father’s estate; she alleges money has been withheld from being given to her and her siblings. She alleges that the executor of her father’s estate has full control over how she and her siblings get the money and how much is transferred despite the clear declaration in Michael Jackson’s will. (Instagram)
Paris’s legal team argues that the estate has more than enough liquidity to make a substantial partial distribution. The petition points to the 2018 sale of the estate’s interest in EMI Music Publishing for $287.5 million, the $22 million sale of Neverland Ranch in 2020, and a major 2023 deal with Sony involving Michael’s music and other intellectual-property assets.Those transactions reportedly generated more than $1 billion in cash before taxes and expenses. Paris’s filing also cites an estate accounting showing approximately $850 million in cash and cash-equivalent assets as of December 2024. After accounting for potential liabilities, her lawyers conclude that roughly $600 million is available for distribution.The petition asks the court to order a preliminary transfer of $600 million to the Michael Jackson Family Trust, or another amount the judge considers appropriate. Paris argues that the estate’s executors have kept the beneficiaries dependent on them by controlling when and how much money is distributed.
The estate’s response
Michael Jackson regularly hosted children and families at Neverland, including groups supported by charitable organisations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (Photo: Instagram)
The estate denies that it has withheld money or reduced payments to the children. In a statement to PEOPLE, it called that allegation “a complete fabrication” and said more than $200 million had already been distributed for their benefit.It also pointed to the terms of Michael’s will, saying that none of his children receives a distribution until they are in their 30s. The estate said it looks forward to fully funding the children’s trusts once all issues are resolved, but insisted that outstanding legal matters must be addressed first.The IRS case is the largest unresolved issue. The estate says the tax dispute, which initially involved about $700 million in taxes and penalties, has been reduced by a court ruling but remains unsettled. Because the final liability could still change, the estate argues that moving hundreds of millions of dollars into the trust now would be premature.
A wider family and estate conflict
The request is not happening in isolation. Paris has previously challenged aspects of the estate’s administration, and her latest petition alleges that her objections were met with public criticism, litigation and a multimillion-dollar reduction in payments to her and her brothers.Earlier this year, a Los Angeles judge ruled that $625,000 in bonus payments made by the estate’s executors to outside law firms in 2018 had to be returned to the estate. The ruling came after Paris objected to the payments. Attorneys for the estate disagreed with the decision but said they would comply with it.The estate was managed for years by Branca and John McClain, who were appointed co-executors after Michael’s death. McClain died in May 2026, leaving Branca as the remaining executor. That shift has added another layer of complexity to an estate already shaped by enormous commercial success and repeated legal disputes.
What happens next
Michael Jackson
A judge is scheduled to hear Paris’s request on December 4. The hearing will not necessarily resolve the entire dispute, but it will determine whether the court believes a partial transfer to the family trust is justified before the estate’s outstanding legal matters are fully resolved.For the Jackson children, the case is about access to money their father intended to provide. For the estate, it is about protecting assets against a tax bill that could still move substantially. Both sides agree that Michael wanted his children provided for. They disagree sharply on whether the estate has honoured that intention, and on whether $600 million can safely be released now.
