Timeline of feud between Paris Jackson and executors

In June 2009, Michael Jackson was at home in Los Angeles while preparing for an ambitious 50-show residency at London's O2 Arena when he suffered a cardiac arrest and died. His sudden death sent shockwaves around the world.

The 50-year-old singer, widely known as the "King of Pop," left behind one of the most remarkable, and lucrative, music catalogs in history. Nevertheless, his financial affairs were in disarray. It later emerged that at the time Jackson owed more than $500m to various creditors.

His estate was placed into the hands of a pair of executors, attorney John Branca and A&R executive John McClain.

The estate's beneficiaries were named as Jackson's three children: sons Prince and Bigi and daughter Paris. However, in recent months a public rift has grown between Paris and the estate's executors. The 27-year-old actor and musician has repeatedly raised concerns about "irregular payments" and has accused lawyers of "skimming money" from her father's estate.

Here, we look back at how the feud between the estate's executors and beneficiaries has developed:

June 25, 2009: The death of Michael Jackson: It was partly his own financial difficulties that convinced Jackson to stage an ambitious 50-show concert residency at London's O2 Arena. His personal physician, Conrad Murray, later said: "He was under enormous pressure. The children told him they were tired of living in hotels and rented places, but Michael was broke... He wanted to do the London shows and then buy a family home, probably in Vegas. But night after night he would tell me he didn't feel he had the capacity to do it."

On the day of his death — June 25, 2009 — Murray said Jackson returned home to his rented Beverly Hills mansion at 1am after rehearsals for the shows. “He was hysterical. He was begging me, 'Please Dr Conrad, I need some milk (Jackson's term for the anaesthetic propofol) so I can sleep.’”

Murray admitted to giving Jackson a small quantity of propofol, but claimed that he believed the singer also injected himself from his own stash. Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest, and Murray was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter and given a four-year jail sentence.

January 11, 2024 — Jackson's estate agrees biopic deal

Jackson's estate does a deal with Lionsgate and Universal to produce Michael, a biopic of Jackson, directed by Training Day and The Equalizer filmmaker Antoine Fuqua and starring Jackson's nephew Jaafar Jackson in the lead role as the King of Pop.

March 22, 2024 — Jackson's son Bigi files to block grandmother Katherine using estate funds for legal battle

Jackson's son Bigi — formerly known as Blanket — files a legal motion to prevent his grandmother, Jackson's mother Katherine, of accessing estate funds in order to fund a legal dispute, believed to be over the estate's own recent catalogue deal with record label Sony, worth a rumored $600 million (£476.8m).

June 28, 2024 — The full extent of Jackson's financial difficulties become public. Branca and McClain file a petition to the Los Angeles Superior Court seeking legal authorisation to pay several law firms for their services rendered to the estate from July through December 2018.

August 22, 2024 — Estate agrees to sell portion of Jackson's songs to Sony for $600 million, despite grandmother's objections. The estate was given the go-ahead by a Los Angeles appeals court to sell a portion of the late pop icon's songs to Sony Music Group for about $600 million.

July 11, 2025 — Paris Jackson raises concerns over "irregular payments" made by estate. Jackson's daughter Paris files an objection to the request for legal fees from Branca and McClain.

In the filing, she expresses concern about the practice of executors granting "so-called 'premium payments' for unrecorded attorney time."

July 15, 2025 — Executors say they've had to deal with 'issues' with Jackson's ex-wife. Branca and McClain revealed they had to deal with "issues" related to one of the King of Pop's ex-wives as they made a plea for legal fees.

Jackson was married twice, to Lisa Marie Presley from 1994 to 1996 and to Debbie Rowe, the mother of Paris and her brother Prince, from 1996 to 2000. Bigi was born via surrogate. August 4, 2025 — Paris Jackson alleges lawyers are “skimming money” from the estate.