Michael Jackson’s lifetime and career lasted just 50 short years – but the legacy of his work & music will go on living far longer. The story of Michael’s afterlife will no doubt be vast and likely even more wide reaching than during his actual lifetime.
Michael’s afterlife begins with the opening of his Estate, just four short days after his death:
The Estate of Michael Jackson, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. BP117321.
On June 25th, 2009 Michael Jackson passed away. At that moment, he forgot his troubles, he let go of his fame and fortune, and he went on to other, (hopefully better) things.
It took his family just 4 days to immediately grab the threads of that fame and fortune and jump into Court with a Petition for Probate.
Michael’s Mom Katherine Grabs the Reins
On June 29th, 2009, Katherine Jackson filed both a Petition for Probate in the LA County Probate Court a Petition for Letters of Special Administration, seeking to gain control of Michael’s assets on a temporary, immediate basis.
Now, this is the point at which the legal story of Michael’s Estate begins, and exactly where, as a California Probate Law Firm, we can begin to illustrate some of the similarities between Superstar Jackson’s estate and our own clients.
In fact, the court saga of Michael Jackson’s estate is an amazing example of just how probate works in California. His estate is one of the few to exhibit nearly all of the possible legal actions that can occur within a probate estate – or even within the probate court as a whole.
Now, back to Katherine Jackson’s Petitions.
In Katherine’s initial Petition for Probate (i.e. request to the court to open an estate), she does not appear to have any knowledge of an existing Will or Trust for her son. She seeks merely to be Administrator of his estate as a whole. She appears to have no idea what assets her son’s estate will consist of – stating to the court that the value of the assets is “difficult if not impossible to quantify.”
Less than 3 days later, on July 1, 2009, a second Petition for Probate hits the LA Courts – this time there is a Will attached. John Branca and John McClain, two of Michael’s closest business associates, submit a Will from Jackson that nominates Branca and McClain as executors. They too also file a Petition for Letters of Special Administration asking for immediate control of the estate.
The battle begins.
Now, before we get into Katherine’s very strong Objection to Branca and McClain’s Petition, you may be wondering – why did Michael Jackson have only a Will – and why in the world did such a wealthy individual not have a Trust? Well, in fact he did – The Michael Jackson Family Trust. The Will filed with the Petition for Probate was a Pour Over Will, directing any assets not in his trust to be essentially poured over into the trust.
This is something we commonly see in our own trust administrations: a person dies with a trust but inadvertently leaves valuable assets outside of the trust – and no evidence that those assets should be in the trust. If the assets exceed the probate limit (currently $208,850), a Probate must be opened in order to obtain authorization to distribute those assets to the trust . That’s where the Pour Over Will comes in – and why it’s an essential part of any estate planning.
Now, the assets Michael left out of his trust were considerable. McClain and Branca’s Petition for Probate indicates that at least $500 million of non-liquid assets – music rights and business interests – likely need to go through probate. And that was just their starting guess – you can imagine what those assets might be worth 17 years later!
Now – back to Michael’s mother Katherine. On July 1, 2009, the same day that McClain and Branca file their Petition, Katherine files an Objection to their Petition. She claims there could be more Wills that come forward, and the Court should wait until the Court hearing scheduled August 3, 2009 to make any decisions.
Numerous filed documents follow Katherine’s Objection before the August 3rd court date: deposition filings, a filing by Katherine to let the Court know she is not “contesting” the Will (and thus not violating the no contest clause), Petitions for Family Allowances, Petitions from companies with an interest in Michael Jackson’s estate, and more.
Despite the many facts flying back and forth, the Court officially admits the Will to Probate and appoints Branca and McClain as the Executors of Michael Jackson’s estate on August 3, 2009 – pushing out Katherine’s petition for control altogether.
Nearly seventeen years later, the estate is still ongoing. Luckily for fans and probate buffs alike – all of the documents filed are public record, allowing us to take a peak into the wild drama and multi billion dollar probate that is the Estate of Michael Jackson. More to come!
