Paris Jackson Seeks $600 Million for Family Trust

Caption: Paris Jackson performing at La Maroquinerie in Paris, March 2022. Credit: Eb59 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Paris Jackson is asking a Los Angeles probate judge to direct $600 million from Michael Jackson’s estate into a trust intended to benefit the late singer’s three children. The petition, filed October 29, escalates a dispute about when Prince, Paris and Bigi Jackson should receive income and principal from their father’s assets. The request concerns trust assets intended for Prince, Paris and Bigi Jackson.

According to documents reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Paris argues that the Michael Jackson Family Trust has remained unfunded more than 17 years after the singer died in June 2009. Her filing says the estate’s executors told beneficiaries in 2011 they would begin the process of funding the trust, but failed to complete the transfer. She claims the delay leaves the three siblings dependent on the executor’s decisions about individual distributions.

A trust with age-based provisions

The dispute turns partly on the arrangement Jackson left for his children. Paris says the trust was designed to provide beneficiaries with income beginning at age 21, with access to portions of principal at later ages. The Times identified the siblings as Prince, 29, Paris, 28, and Bigi, 24. The petition contends the structure has not been implemented as intended, despite years of profitable estate activity.

The filing describes cash and other assets it says could support a preliminary $600 million transfer. It also points to major estate transactions, including the sale of the Neverland property and a reported music-rights agreement with Sony. Those transactions show the estate has generated substantial revenue, but they do not, by themselves, establish how much is presently available for distribution after taxes, costs and other legal obligations.

Estate representatives dispute Paris’s account. In a response reported by the Times and People, they said full funding must await resolution of outstanding legal matters, including an Internal Revenue Service dispute. They also denied her allegation that the children had been improperly deprived of distributions. The two positions present a real legal question about the timing and control of assets, not a concluded finding of wrongdoing.

The court now faces a specific request

Paris is asking the court to compel a preliminary transfer of $600 million or another amount the judge considers appropriate. That leaves the probate court to evaluate the estate’s available assets, unresolved liabilities and the terms of Jackson’s trust. A funded trust would place the money under the trust’s distribution terms rather than leave it entirely under the estate executors’ distribution decisions.

The singer’s death in 2009 left an estate whose business operations have continued for years, and management decisions now intersect with the beneficiaries’ adult lives. The Times reported that the next hearing was scheduled for November 4, putting the funding dispute before the court just days after the petition became public.

References: Paris Jackson seeks $600 million from Michael Jackson’s estate to go to his three children | Michael Jackson’s Daughter Seeks $600 Million From His Estate, Says Trust Remains Unfunded