After her grandson filed a petition to block her's attempt to get reimbursed her attorney's fees by Michael's estate, the matriarch accuses the executors of 'holding all of the assets ... in order to keep control over them.'
- Mar 27, 2024
AceShowbiz - The Jackson family's legal battle continues with Katherine Jackson's response to her grandson's petition. After Michael Jackson's son Blanket Jackson, affectionately known as Gigi, objected to her request to get Michael's estate pay her legal fees, Katherine has clapped back.
On Wednesday, March 20, Katherine filed a new petition in which she claims that the executors are being too frugal with how the estate's money is being awarded to its beneficiaries and argues that they can afford to cover the costs she's requesting.
"... it seems clear to [Katherine] that the Executors are holding all of the assets in the Estate in order to keep control over them, and to avoid the more liberal distribution requirements of the Trust," her filing reads. She claims, "the Executors cannot in good faith contend that the Estate does not have sufficient available funds to allow the Trust to make the requested payment."
Moreover, attorneys on behalf of late singer's mother claim that there would be no "loss to creditors or injury to the estate or any interested person" to cover her legal fees. "This vastly exceeds its potential liabilities, and leaves hundreds of millions of dollars available for the remainder beneficiaries," the papers state.
Katherine also argues against the executors' previous concern that they're obligated to donate portion of Michael's estate money to various charities, noting, "...Nothing in the Trust requires those payments to be made before any preliminary distribution to other beneficiaries."
Katherine is not a beneficiary of her son's main estate but a sole beneficiary of a sub trust in Michael's will.
Previously, Katherine asked to be reimbursed on her attorney's fees after she fought the executors of Michael's estate over the sale of his catalog. Michael's children Paris Jackson and Blanket supported their grandmother, while their brother Prince said he was on board with the deal.
After the court sided with the executors and approved the deal, Katherine later filed an appeal that argued the executors had no authority to sell off the asset, a claim that the executors scoffed at. Meanwhile, Blanket said he did not appeal the court's ruling.
That's why when his grandmother sought to be reimbursed $561,548 from MJ's estate on her legal fees associated with the appeal, Blanket said through his attorney, "It was apparent that the Court was acting within its discretionary powers to grant the Petition for Instructions. The chances of a reversal on appeal were quite slim and [Blanket] did not wish to incur further expense in pursuing an appeal."
"Despite the expense and long odds, Katherine decided to pursue an appeal," the lawyer added. "[Blanket] prays that this Court deny Katherine's fees and costs incurred to appeal," the motion added. "It would be unfair to make those beneficiaries shoulder this burden when they expressly decided an appeal would not be in their best interests.
Blanket said Katherine should be paid her legal fees before the appeal but not for work done on the appeal, which he doesn't agree with. As a beneficiary of a sub trust in Michael's will, Katherine was recently revealed to have received more than $55 million in total since her son's passing in 2009.
