Paris Jackson has secured a major win in her legal battle regarding her late father’s finances, and it has been ruled that $625,000 will be returned to the estate.
The singer and model has been in a long-running legal dispute for months now, expressing disagreement with the way that co-executors of Michael Jackson’s estate have been handling his finances. She has accused them of mismanaging his money, not being transparent in their spending, and wasting resources from the estate.
Her stance also relates to the new biopic about the iconic singer, Michael, which she described as a risky investment and said it was “troubling” how much money from the estate had been used for the film’s budget.
John Branca and John McClain – who have managed the estate since his passing in 2009 – have repeatedly hit back at the accusations, and last month described them as “meritless”.
Now, according to court documents obtained by People, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Wednesday (May 13) that $625,000 (£468,380) in bonus payments made by Branca and McClain to third-party law firms will need to be “returned” to the estate.
Paris Jackson Scores Major Legal Win as Michael Jackson Estate Is Forced to ‘Return’ $625K in Bonus Payments https://t.co/4i5vu9BElh
— People (@people) May 13, 2026
According to the outlet, the motion read: “Ms. Jackson’s objection to the $625,000 of bonus payments made in the second six months of 2018 is sustained. The bonus payments are not approved; they are disallowed. The payments shall be returned to the estate.
It also adds that Paris is entitled to “bring a motion for her reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs” relating to the notion.
Speaking to the publication after the ruling, a spokesperson for Paris stated that she has “always been focused on what’s best for her family” and described the judge’s decision as a “massive win for them”.
“After years of delay, the Jackson family will finally get the transparency and accountability measures Paris has fought for,” the rep added, also accusing Branca of “engaging in sexist, scorched-earth tactics against a beneficiary”.
The attorneys for Jackson’s estate also spoke to the outlet and said that while they “disagree” with the ruling, they “fully respect it and plan to move forward accordingly”.
“We are gratified that the Court itself recognised and praised the work of the executors and its outside counsel in today’s decision,” they said, also saying that the executors “created real and substantial generational wealth for the estate’s beneficiaries”.
Their statement continued: “While the Court has previously approved several other bonuses to outside counsel over the years for their extraordinary services, and this was the first time they were the subject of objections, the executors have always understood that legal fees are subject to court approval and have always required outside counsel to agree to return any funds to the estate if the payments were not approved.
“And, to be clear, none of the $625,000 in bonuses – which represent only a small fraction of the Estate’s expenses for the period in question – were paid to the executors, and the court did not in any way say that the executors had made any inappropriate payments to themselves.”
When Paris claimed that the investment into the biopic was risky, an attorney of the executors highlighted instances where Branca and McClane had been “wildly successful” in turning over a profit for their Michael Jackson-inspired projects, citing the 2009 documentary Michael Jackson: This is It.
In her lawsuit, Paris and her lawyers also hit out at Branca for allegedly not acknowledging the weight of a 1994 deal and $20million settlement with the family of Jordan Chandler – which forbade depiction of the then-underage boy’s relationship with Michael Jackson and the allegations of sexual abuse.
Because of the oversight, the original script of the new biopic depicted the Chandler allegations from Jackson’s perspective, allegedly violating the 1994 blackout clause and leading to pricey reshoots.
The legal team for the co-executors hit back, and alleged that Paris was responsible for both “irrelevant and highly incendiary, personal attacks” and making “false and frivolous objections”.
They also claimed that Paris would “continue to benefit substantially from the tireless work of the Executors”, and has “already received roughly $65 million in benefits [and] stands to inherit many hundreds of millions of dollars more.”
That figure was called “outright false” by Paris’ team.
As for the Michael Jackson biopic, in 2025 Paris announced that she had “zero per cent involvement” with the film, after actor Colman Domingo said in an interview that the singer’s children – Paris and Prince – were “very much in support” of it.
Later that year, Paris filed a lawsuit claiming that her inheritance from father Michael Jackson had been “mismanaged”, and then in 2026 she shared an update on where she stands with Colman Domingo after the clash.
