Heirs to The King of Pop | Whatever Happened to Michael Jackson’s Billions?
You might be led to believe that if your father was none other than the legend himself the King of Pop, that as the offspring of the best-selling and highest earning artist of all time you would be set for life. Inheriting an unimaginable fortune many could only dream of. However, being the child of Michael Jackson, unsurprisingly, wasn’t so clear cut. Spiralling debts, continuing lawsuits and unresolved custody disputes, the superstar’s sudden passing left a legal and financial mess behind that put his children’s future in serious jeopardy.
So, what were Michael Jackson’s wishes for his millions? Was any left after his countless creditors were paid? And who else tried to make their own case to take a share of his fortune for themselves?
In 2009 at the time of his sudden passing, Michael Jackson’s finances were in complete disarray with those in his inner circle fearing there wasn’t even enough to pay for the superstar’s funeral, let alone enough to continue to support his three children. The Associated Press reported that, in 2007, Jackson had a net worth of $236.6 million: which included $567.6 million in assets and debts of $331 million. However, that number continued to skyrocket up to an estimated $400 million of debt by the time of his death in 2009.
When the King of Pop’s will was opened mere days after his sudden passing, which was last updated in 2002, it named his former attorney, John Branca, and music executive, John McClain, as executors of the will and confirmed that the Michael Jackson estate should be placed in a private trust. The estate was to be responsible for managing Jackson’s assets, including his music catalog, merchandising rights, and other intellectual property. Its beneficiaries were his three children and his mother Katherine, both parties being given a 40 per cent share, with the remaining 20 percent going to unspecified charities that benefited children. Upon his mother’s death, any share she held would revert to his surviving children. His father, siblings and ex-wives were purposely omitted from the will, with Jackson’s trust also including a “no contest” clause that called for anyone who challenged the legal document to be automatically disinherited.
However, this didn’t stop Michael Jackson’s father and some of his siblings from taking legal action to stake their claim. After losing any monthly support they used to receive after the superstar’s death, Joe Jackson filed a lawsuit shortly after to get his share of his son’s estate. According to court documents, the 81-year-old patriarch was seeking an allowance to help top up his $1,700 monthly social security payment and cover expenses that exceeded $15,000 a month. This included $1,200 for rent for his Las Vegas home; $2,500 to eat out; $1,000 for entertainment, gifts and vacations; $2,000 on air travel and $3,000 on hotels. Although his parents were still married, the couple lived separately, and he had no right to her $26,000 monthly salary from his estate. Joe’s lawyer arguing that “Michael loved his father” and Joe should be entitled to the “same manner” of support. However, his request was denied in court, “Joe Jackson takes none of this estate,” declared Judge Mitchell Beckloff in 2009. “This is a decision his son made.”
However, this wasn’t the end, as in 2012 several of Michael’s siblings then went onto dispute the validity of the 2002 will, labelling it as “false” and “fraudulent”. The Jackson family claimed that the singer was in New York on July 7th, the day his last will was dated and marked as signed in Los Angeles. Others confirmed that the King of Pop was in the Big Apple that day. But under California law, this isn’t something that would render the will invalid, as it’s possible the document was simply misdated. Representatives for his estate countered, “We are saddened that false and defamatory accusations grounded in stale Internet conspiracy theories are now being made by certain members of Michael’s family whom he chose to leave out of his will.” Even if his most recent will was found to be false, his three previous versions were all remarkably consistent. As legal documentations from 1995 and 1997 both specify that his interests should be placed in a trust and its beneficiaries were to be his mother and any children he might have had.
In addition to shares in the estate, the singer requested that $100 million was to be given to his mother and an additional $100 million was to be split between his three children. However, these lump sums weren’t to be dished out immediately after the King of Pop’s death. According to Michael’s will, his three children — Prince, Paris, and Blanket — would each receive allowances until they turned 21 and then would gain access to one-third of their trust fund at age 30. The remainder would then be disbursed in increments at ages 35 and 40. “He wanted the kids to taste life rather than just live off his fortune so he made it that no money could be automatically earned until they were 30.” Said a legal adviser from within the Jackson camp. “That means all of them have a good opportunity to go out into the world and make a go of things in their industries. The Trust fund documents are very clear. So, while they are billionaires on paper, in reality that is not quite the case.”
However, none of the 100s of millions of dollars promised could be paid out in till the estate had paid off its colossal debts and raked in some serious cash. Luckily for its beneficiaries, the estate broke records by generating roughly half a billion dollars in the first three years since the King of Pop’s death. This was thanks to fortunes made from music and merchandise sales and a slew of multi-million-dollar deals that included a $60 million advance for the documentary film ‘This Is It’, a new recording contract worth up to $250 million and the Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour, a joint venture with Cirque du Soleil.
By 2012, Michael Jackson had earned more than any single living artist during the same period. However, Katherine Jackson’s legal team said she still opposed to the naming of McClain and Branca as executors, asking that a member of the Jackson family “have a seat at the table” as a third executor. “She feels that Mr. Branca and Mr. McClain have been doing an admirable job,” Katherine’s legal representative said. “We’re going to try to partner with them and work closely with them to make sure that the estate is doing the best that it can for the legacy of Michael Jackson and for the kids, most importantly.” Although this request sounded innocent enough, in all likelihood its main motivation was so that the wider Jackson family could claim more control over the estate they were clearly shut out of in Michael Jackson’s will. The third executor would also be entitled to a percentage of the vast profits being made by the estate, and there would be plenty of opportunities to claim expenses and embezzle further funds from the trust. Michael Jackson’s siblings took particular issue with Branca and McClain in concern with the 10% they earned from the estate in their role as executors. That’s a pretty standard fee for managing a large estate, but that didn’t stop siblings Randy, Jermaine, Tito, Janet, and Rebbie from writing to the executors and demanding their resignations. However, a court ruling concluded that the period to challenge the will had already expired.
Having received more than $9 million in payments since Jackson’s death. By 2012, the estate had already upped the Jackson matriarch’s monthly child support for his three children to $70,000, settled the rent on their mansion in Calabasas, and also picked up the bills for other expenses, which included renovations on the Jackson family home in Encino, Los Angeles. By the 5th anniversary of the King of Pop’s death, over $20 million had been spent supporting his three children, with Katherine’s support payments and income from the estate increasing significantly each year since June 2009. By this time, Katherine Jackson was reportedly supporting many of her children and grandchildren with this additional income. Prince, Paris and Blanket were reportedly given as normal of a childhood as possible by their paternal grandmother, who decided to take them out of home schooling soon after their father’s passing and enrolled them in the Buckley school, an exclusive private institution in the San Fernando valley. Aside from the added social aspect of attending a regular high school, they did normal things kids enjoy, like visit Disney and Six Flags amusement parks, and regularly hung out with their wider family. Their cousin TJ Jackson eventually becoming their legal co-guardian alongside their grandmother, Katherine.
By the time each of Michael Jackson’s children turned 18 years old, the singer had broken records after making an estimated $2 billion in profits since his death, and they were receiving an estimate $7 to $10 million each year from the late musician’s estate. That’s before the $33 million they are due to receive by the time they turn 40, and their income is only set to rise even further. A Jackson legal insider stating “They really are sitting on a billion-dollar future — none of them need to work again in their lives. It has been a remarkable turnaround given that the estate only valued his business at around $3m at the time of his death due to his debts.” Michael Jackson’s lifelong dedication and determination for his craft left a legacy that meant his children, and their direct descendants, wouldn’t have to work for generations to come. Having sacrificed his childhood for the spotlight, the former Motown prodigy strived to give his children the blissful and carefree childhood experience he felt was robbed from him. Unfortunately, no one could characterise the Jackson children’s early years as a picture of perfection, due to public and personal turmoil their father was under during those years. How was it being thrust into the media spotlight after a lifetime sheltered away and adapting outside of the bubble their fiercely protective father created for them?
What lasting impact has their upbringing had on them? And what have they done with the legacy and immense fortune their world-famous father has bequeathed upon them?