Michael Jackson’s youngest son Bigi Jackson - better known as Blanket - has asked a court to block his grandmother Katherine Jackson from using estate funds to fight a legal battle against the estate’s executors. And if you think that’s confusing, the legal battle in question is an appeal against a ruling in a case that the two family members previously filed together.
Alright, let’s break this down into easier chunks. Bigi and Katherine previously went legal against estate executors John Branca and John McClain, seeking to block a deal to sell a stake in Michael Jackson’s catalogue to Sony Music, for which they sought court approval in 2022.
Katherine said in court that she was protecting her son’s wishes, arguing that he had made it clear that he never wanted his catalogue to be sold. However, Branca and McCain said that Katherine has a long track record of opposing deals that would benefit the estate.
Despite this, they said, they had managed to rescue the Jackson business from “the verge of collapse”, the musician having wracked up hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while he was alive. That the business is now profitable, they argued, shows that they know what they’re doing.
As such, they argued that current market conditions meant that now was the best possible time to go ahead with the Sony deal, in order to maximise returns for the estate.
Siding with the executors, the court ruled that the deal could proceed. Bigi decided to drop the matter, but Katherine has launched an appeal, continuing to argue that Branca and McCain do not have the authority to sell her son’s assets. This is where Jackson Jr’s new legal filing comes in.
According to TMZ, Bigi does not believe that the appeal will be successful and therefore it is not of any benefit to the beneficiaries of the estate to pursue it.
To that end he wants Katherine’s request for funds to be released to pay for her new legal action to be blocked. He also notes that she already receives a seven figure allowance annually, so could afford to pay for the appeal herself, if she really wants to continue with it.
His legal filing says that he is happy for his grandmother to be reimbursed for legal fees already incurred, but requests that the court “use its best judgement” when deciding exactly how much she should receive.
Earlier this month, according to RadarOnline, McCain and Branca also filed paperwork asking the court to block Katherine’s request for $561,548 to cover legal costs from the original legal battle.
