The late Michael Jackson’s youngest son, Bigi “Blanket” Jackson, is currently embroiled in a legal tiff with his grandmother Katherine.
At issue is Katherine’s desire to use money from MJ’s estate to fund a legal battle that Jackson doesn’t believe is worth pursuing.
The battle reportedly pertains to MJ’s catalog.
MJ’s “survivors oppose efforts made by his estate executors to sell a large portion of the late artist’s catalogue,” according to the Daily Mail.
Unfortunately for them, MJ’s survivors, including his son, lost the battle, with a court ruling that the executors of MJ’s estate could explore “options for a sale.”
Katherine subsequently filed an appeal and now needs money to fund it, but Jackson opposes continuing the battle.
“The way Blanket explains it in the [associated legal] docs … the appeal has little chance of winning, and he says he doesn’t think it truly benefits the beneficiaries of the trust to continue the fight — so, he simply doesn’t want the estate to foot the bill for it … something Katherine wants,” according to TMZ.
Blanket Jackson Asks Court Not to Pay Grandmother’s Attorney’s Fees From MJ Estate https://t.co/RNlyAlQFk1
— iMF Music Group (@iMFMusicGroup) March 21, 2024
And so in response, Jackson filed legal documents this week asking the court to bar his grandmother from using money from his father’s estate to fund the appeal.
He did make one overture in the legal docs.
He “asked the court to use its best judgment to grant Katherine reasonable attorney’s fees incurred from the pre-appeal battle — which he agrees she’s entitled to … at least to a certain extent,” TMZ notes.
All this comes about a month and a half after MJ’s estate executors sold half of MJ’s publishing and recorded masters catalog for $600 million. The sale angered Katherine because her appeal was still pending, prompting her to demand the executors be held in contempt of court.
“On March 1st, I sent a letter to the estate asking for an explanation as to the authority they used as the basis in order to proceed with the transaction, and – crickets. No response at all. We don’t understand why this is not contempt of this court,” her lawyer, Robert E. Allen, said, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
However, a judge again ruled against her.
“Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who’s been overseeing Michael Jackson’s estate since his death in 2009, said the executors had authority to close the deal,” according to Rolling Stone.
“He said it was true that Katherine’s appeal meant that his ‘blessing’ of the deal had been put on hold, but he said the executors were free to move ahead knowing they would be ‘personally on the hook’ if their actions led to lawsuits,” the magazine reported.
“I didn’t preclude them from entering into the transaction,” the judge reportedly said. “The estate wanted an order saying they could proceed with the transaction and be insulated from liability. They were asking for a blessing in a sense that they would not be liable, personally, for the transaction if they got sued. So, now, they’re liable for the transaction if they get sued.”
The $600 million sale of Michael Jackson’s music assets to Sony was the subject of a heated hearing today, with lawyers for Jackson’s mother arguing that estate co-executors should be held “in contempt.” Our report:
More: https://t.co/wnQ8yT0hrIhttps://t.co/wnQ8yT0hrI
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) March 9, 2024
The executors of MJ’s estate have for their part defended their moves by pointing to all the debt the estate was saddled with when MJ died in 2009.
“Exercising the powers granted in Michael’s will as confirmed by the probate court, they entered into business transactions involving the estate’s assets that skyrocketed the estate’s value to over $2 billion,” a recent appellate filing reads.
All this also comes amid efforts by two of MJ’s molestation accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, to have their trial held before the release of a biopic, “Michael,” about their accuser.
“Robson, a choreographer and director, and Safechuck, a writer, actor and director, sued MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures for negligence, breach of duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress in separate lawsuits in 2013 and 2014 respectively,” Rolling Stone reported late last month.
“They won the right to proceed together Wednesday after their previously dismissed complaints were revived by an appellate ruling over the summer. The August ruling found that companies can owe their own separate duty to protect victims even if they’re ‘solely owned’ by an alleged perpetrator of abuse,” according to the magazine.
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Author: Vivek Saxena
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