Michael Jackson's Siblings Promise New Fight Over His Estate

Michael Jackson's Siblings Promise New Fight Over His Estate


Michael Jackson’s estate faced a tumultuous beginning three years ago after he unexpectedly died. First his mother, Katherine, and then his father, Joe, filed challenges against the executors of his Estate, John Branca and John McClain. Katherine backed off her attack and Joe’s case was thrown out of court.

Since then, the Estate has been relatively peaceful, at least on the surface. Branca and McClain have led the Estate from a debt-ridden start to enormous profits. They began around $500 million in the red when the King of Pop died. Three years later, the Estate reported $475 million in profits.


Of course, Branca and McClain have enjoyed a huge financial windfall from this as well. They have a special arrangement, blessed by the probate judge who oversees the estate, allowing them to earn 10% from most deals they cut for the Estate. Branca and McClain are now facing a new attack over their earnings … and that’s just the beginning.

Several of Michael’s brothers and sisters — including Janet, Randy, Tito and Jermaine — signed a letter that they sent to Branca and McClain accusing the pair of fraud, forgery, exploitation and abuse. The letter was published on a celebrity gossip website yesterday.

In it, Jackson’s siblings claim his July 7, 2002 will was “Fake. Flawed and Fraudulent.” They say Michael was not in Los Angeles that day and couldn’t have signed the will. The letter also says that Michael told them in the months leading up to his death that he despised the pair and didn’t want them to have anything to do with his life or estate.

But that’s not all. The letter states that Branca and McClain lied and took advantage of their 82-year old mother, managing to get her to agree to increases in their percentage fees from the gross income of the estate. They claim to be considering retaining a well-respected law firm, Baker Hostetler, who advised them of potential criminal misconduct by the executors. They promise legal action in the weeks to come.

Branca and McClain released a prompt statement refuting the allegations. They deny that the will or their actions have been fraudulent and point out that three separate courts have rejected a challenge to the will. The executors say the courts laid to rest any doubts as to the will’s validity. They lament that the accusations have been brought in the midst of their remarkable progress in securing the financial future of Michael’s children. Branca and McClain say they have diligently carried out their fiduciary duties. They decry the Jackson siblings “false and defamatory accusations grounded in stale Internet conspiracy theories”.

So, yes, it looks like the fighting over Michael’s Estate may soon return to court. If so, it will likely be a short-lived battle. The reason that Joe Jackson lost his legal challenges is because he is not a beneficiary and lacks legal “standing.” Because he would not benefit from the estate, he could not challenge the executors. Michael’s siblings will have the same problem if they try to bring suit.

However, this raises an interesting point regarding the executor’s statement. Because Joe did not have standing to bring his challenge to court, and because Katherine withdrew her claim before it was ruled on, no judge has ever decided the issue of whether Michael’s will was valid or not. In other words, Branca and McClain’s statement in response to the Jackson siblings’ letter was somewhat misleading.

At this point, unless Katherine reverses course and brings a formal will challenge (which is likely too late at this point), no court of law will resolve the question of whether the will was validly signed anytime soon. The Jackson siblings say that their mother, who is 82 and recently had a mini-stroke, is afraid to challenge the will in court. If that is the case, that type of claim could only proceed if brought by Michael’s children. Once they each turn 18, any of his children will have the legal right to challenge the will and the actions taken by the executors. Michael’s son Prince is 15 years old.

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Tito Jackson Retracts Signature from Letter to Estate

Tito says, “I completely retract my signature from the July 17th letter sent to the Executors of my brother Michael’s estate and repudiate all the claims made against them.”

He adds, “I don’t want any part of that letter whatsoever.”

The letter Tito is referencing was signed by Jermaine, Janet, Rebbie and Randy … and accused the executors of failing at their job and stressing out their mother, Katherine Jackson, so badly that she suffered a “mini-stroke.”

We broke the story … Tito’s son, TJ, is preparing legal docs so he can ask a judge to become the temporary guardian of Michael’s 3 kids.


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Randy Jackson Responsible For Plotting To Overthrow Michael Jackson's Executors


By Jen Heger - Radar Assistant Managing Editor

Randy Jackson is responsible for hatching a family plot to overthrow Michael Jackson's executors in an attempt to get his hands on part of the late King of Pop's estimated $1 billion fortune, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.

During an emotional interview on The Insider Tuesday night, Marlon, Tito, and Jackie Jackson would not identify the person they hold responsible for not allowing them to talk to their mother Katherine for more than nine days now, but Radar has learned that the trio holds their brother, Randy, responsible, as well as his business associate, Howard Mann.

Michael Jackson's children's court-appointed attorney, Margaret Lodise, will be asking a judge to strip Katherine's guardianship of Paris, Prince, and Blanket since she has been out of town for more than a week, and because she believes the children aren't safe following a physical altercation with Janet, Jermaine, and Randy on Monday. The hearing could happen as early as Wednesday morning as there are regularly scheduled proceedings in Michael Jackson's probate case.

When asked who orchestrated this current Jackson family drama, Marlon said during The Insider interview: "I'm not going to go into that. There is somebody that made the decision that my mother cannot talk to me, and whoever that person is is going to have to answer to me. I'm going to see my mother, and I'm going to bring her home."

Family sources unequivocally tell us: "Marlon, Tito, and Jackie all hold Randy responsible for all of this. Randy is also getting advice from Howard Mann, who has been on the fringe for the last two years, trying to insert himself into the Jackson family. Randy introduced Howard to Katherine, and some of the siblings have been very concerned for a very long time about Mann. Howard is business partners with Katherine on several deals that Randy has supported and wanted her to do," the source tells us.

Howard Mann is the founder of the Naked Women's Wrestling League, and as RadarOnline.com previously reported Katherine and Mann released a book together, Never Can Say Goodbye, The Katherine Jackson Archives. Mann also operates the website, JacksonSecretVault.com. The executors of Michael's estate sent Mann a cease-and- desist letter in 2010 because the promoter was using the King of Pop's image on a lithograph collection without their permission and subsequently filed a lawsuit against him for violating copyright and trademark laws.

Mann told several media outlets on Monday about the latest Jackson family drama, "I believe that Katherine and the children who are benefactors of the estate fall on one side, and then Randy, Jermaine and Rebbie and Tito fall on the other side," Mann said. "They're a group of people who have a great deal of questions about the administration of the estate." Tito has since defected from trying to have the executors tossed.

Mann has a checkered background and was sued by bombshell Carmen Electra for over $400k for failure to pay her for several appearances she made for the Naked Women's Wrestling League.

A grief stricken Marlon revealed on The Insider, "We've been told that our mother is safe. She's doing well. But we have not spoken to her. We have not talked to her and I don't know where my mother is..." but vowed to go to Arizona and bring her home.

"This is a family divided, sadly right now. Marlon, Jackie, Tito, hold Randy and Howard Mann responsible, period. They just want their mother to come home safely and to stop being used as a pawn," the insider told us.

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JACKSON FAMILY
EMERGENCY GUARDIANSHIP HEARING

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TJ Jackson -- Tito's son -- is about to enter the probate court in downtown L.A., along with an army of lawyers, trying to get temporary guardianship of Michael Jackson's 3 kids.

Katherine's lawyer, Perry Sanders, tells TMZ, "This is a very tense time when of course we don't feel Mrs. Jackson should be removed as guardian and we would vigorously oppose that on anything other than an extremely short-term basis, until she returns home."

We're also told Katherine had high blood pressure before she skipped L.A., and the spa visit did her good. But TJ doesn't think it did the kids any good.

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