LOS ANGELES — Paris Jackson and her siblings filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court in November 2025 accusing estate executors John Branca and John McClain of mismanaging Michael Jackson's estate and demanding transparent accounting. The filing accused the estate of serving Branca's interests over the beneficiaries' interests and failing to preserve Michael Jackson's legacy.

The legal dispute comes one month before the scheduled release of "Michael," a biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua. The Jackson estate has been in probate for 17 years since Michael Jackson died in 2009.

Michael Jackson died in 2009 leaving behind three children: Prince Jackson, Paris Jackson, and Bigi Jackson (formerly known as Blanket Jackson). In court filings, Paris Jackson said she wants more transparency and more timely accounting from Branca and McClain.

Paris Jackson's filing says that Branca's lack of experience producing dramatic feature films forced producers to alter the third act, increased the budget, and delayed the film's release by one year. The film underwent reshoots in 2025 that increased its budget. Producers removed a storyline about an accuser from the film to comply with a settlement between the estate and the accuser's family.

In September 2025, Paris Jackson described the film as sugar-coated and dishonest in her Instagram stories. The film stars Jaafar Jackson, Michael Jackson's nephew and the son of Jermaine Jackson, as Michael Jackson. Miles Teller plays John Branca in the film.

In a March 19 filing, the estate's lawyers said Paris Jackson's objections are without merit and accused her of staging tabloid press photo ops and strutting into hearings. Jonathan Steinsapir, an attorney for the estate, said, "The vast majority of her 'claims' have been either approved by her legal team or by the court in prior years' accounting, but those facts have been routinely ignored by her attorneys. Others are based on false or misleading information." Steinsapir said, "Paris has already received roughly $65 million in benefits and stands to inherit many hundreds of millions more." He added, "This is from an estate that was $500 million in debt and facing bankruptcy at the time of Michael's death but was turned by the executors into a business generating billions in revenue."

Paris Jackson's siblings joined her petition for more transparency and timely accounting, and a judge approved a schedule for the estate to submit expense reports. The judge allowed Branca and McClain to wait until April 2027 to submit their accounting for 2025.