Michael Jackson’s three children, Prince, Paris and Bigi, were made beneficiaries of his estate following his death
Michael Jackson’s mom and his three kids have been cut off from receiving money from his estate amid an ongoing dispute with the IRS.
Jackson’s three children, Paris, Bigi and Prince, became beneficiaries of the pop star’s estate after his death in 2009, while his mom Katherine became a sole beneficiary of a sub-trust in Jackson’s will.
However, in 2021 the IRS audited the estate’s federal estate tax return and claimed it had ‘undervalued its assets’.
Jackson died in 2009. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
As a result, the IRS was owed ‘an additional $700 million in taxes and penalties’, according to a filing obtained by People.
The estate disputed the assessment and won, but it has since filed a motion for reconsideration regarding the court’s value of Mijac; Jackson’s music catalog, which is owned by Sony music.
The case remains pending, meaning the value of the estate has not been determined and a final judgement has not been made.
As the case moves through the system, attorneys requested that a portion of Jackson’s estate remain ‘subject to administration’ to distribute to the Michael Jackson family trust.
However, John Branca and John McClain, who are the executors of the will, rejected the request.
The pair claimed they could not ‘possibly determine what amount could be safely distributed at this time’, and noted that the trust ‘requires that 20 percent of the estate ‘as valued for federal estate tax purposes’ be distributed to charity before the remaining assets of the estate can be distributed to sub-trusts’.
Paris and Prince are Jackson’s eldest children. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Image)
In order to determine the charitable contribution, the dispute with the IRS must be resolved.
The decision means Paris, Bigi and Prince, who are all in their 20s, will not have access to money from the estate until the issue is resolved.
However, the executors have suggested that the estate could provide for the three kids and Jackson’s mother using ‘the family allowance’.
Jackson shared his two eldest children, Prince and Paris, with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe. He welcomed Bigi in 2002 via a surrogate.
The kids are now 27, 26, and 21, respectively.
In 2021, Prince spoke about how close the siblings are, as he said: “At this point in our life it doesn’t really feel like there’s that hierarchy of, ‘I’m the older brother’.” “It’s more [that] we’re all siblings and we’re kind of all on that same level where my sister has her strengths, and my brother has his strengths, and where I’m not as strong in certain areas, they complement me in that way,” he added.
