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Paris Jackson has successfully prevailed: three lawyers have to pay back $ 625,000 in bonus payments, which John Branca, the executor of her father’s estate, had paid out.
In a 23-page ruling unsealed Tuesday and obtained by Rolling Stone, the retired judge who long presided over Michael Jackson’s probate case and now serves as a private arbitrator in the complex case granted Paris’ request to recover payments made in 2018. These include $250,000 to Jay Cooper of Greenberg Traurig, $125,000 to Jeryll Cohen of Saul Ewing and $250,000 to the late senior probate attorney Howard Weitzman of Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.
“The arbitrator cannot determine that the bonus payments are fair and reasonable based on the information presented. In fact, based on the evidence presented, the bonus amounts paid appear arbitrary – namely, what Mr. Branca believed was appropriate,” retired Judge Mitchell Beckloff wrote in his ruling. “While Mr. Branca may know the value of attorneys’ fees better than anyone, there must be a specific and detailed factual basis for a decision that finds fees fair and reasonable.”
Bonuses must be paid back
Beckloff found that the estate failed to demonstrate why the hourly fees paid to the attorneys did not constitute “sufficient compensation” for the services provided. He ruled that the bonus payments “shall be returned to the estate” and stipulated that the executors “shall not make any bonus payments to an attorney as an advance payment without the written consent of all beneficiaries or an order of the arbitrator or court.”
The ruling came after the actress and musician asked the court to set “clear guidelines” for payments to estate lawyers. In addition to challenging the bonuses as “suspicious,” she sought an order requiring the estate to retain at least 40 percent of billed fees to adequately incentivize attorneys to file timely disclosures and avoid “bloated pleadings.”
In his ruling signed April 29, Beckloff ordered the estate to retain 30 percent of attorneys’ fees “until an order authorizing the payment of such fees is made.” He also credited Paris as a driving force behind another recent ruling that requires executors to file applications for attorneys’ fees for 2019 to 2024 by September 15, 2026.
“Massive victory” for the family
A spokesperson for Paris welcomed the latest decision in a statement to ROLLING STONE.
“Paris has always focused on what is best for her family and this ruling is a massive victory for her,” the statement said. “After years of delay, the Jackson family will finally receive the transparency and accountability that Paris fought for. The Jackson Estate is intended to be a prudent, fiscally responsible institution that supports the Jackson family – not a slush fund for John Branca to live out his Hollywood mogul fantasies. After months of sexist, scorched-earth methods against one beneficiary, it is time for John Branca to admit his many mistakes and act in the best interests of the family he represents.” has a fiduciary duty.”
A spokesman for the estate said the executors disagreed with the retired judge but planned to “fully respect” the decision. The statement noted that Beckloff had specifically praised the work of the executors: In his ruling, he wrote that “there can be no doubt that, under the expertise of the executors, this estate has grown from a state that was on the verge of bankruptcy when Michael Jackson died in June 2009 to the financial heavyweight that it is today.”
Estate administration defends itself
“While the court has approved several other bonuses to outside counsel for their exceptional services in the past, and this is the first time they have been the subject of objection, the executors have always understood that attorneys’ fees are subject to court approval and have always required outside counsel to return any monies to the estate should the payments not be approved,” the statement said. “And for the avoidance of doubt, none of the $625,000 in bonuses – which represent only a small fraction of the estate’s expenses for the period in question – went to the executors, and the court did not find in any way that the executors made improper payments to themselves.”
Paris, 28, is a beneficiary of her father’s estate alongside her brothers Prince, 29, and Bigi, 24. In recent court filings obtained by ROLLING STONE, Paris’ lawyers said she did not enter into the litigation lightly. “This litigation is painful for Paris. It distracts her from her own life and career,” they wrote.
Michael Jackson was 50 years old when he died of an accidental overdose of the powerful surgical anesthetic propofol in his rented Los Angeles villa on June 25, 2009.
