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.
His mother, Katherine, was named the sole beneficiary of a sub-trust in his will.
In 2021, the IRS audited the estate’s federal estate tax return and argued it had “undervalued its assets.”
The IRS said the estate owed an additional $700 million in taxes and penalties, according to a filing obtained by People.
The estate contested that assessment and initially prevailed.
It has since asked the court to reconsider the valuation of Mijac, Jackson’s music catalog.
The catalog is owned by Sony music.
The case remains pending.
No final value for the estate has been set and no final judgment issued.
As the dispute proceeds, attorneys asked that part of Jackson’s estate stay “subject to administration” so funds could flow to the Michael Jackson family trust.
The executors of the will, John Branca and John McClain, declined that request.
They said they could not “possibly determine what amount could be safely distributed at this time.”
The executors also pointed out 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.”
To calculate that charitable gift, the dispute with the IRS must be resolved.
That decision means Paris, Bigi and Prince will not have access to estate funds until the matter ends.
The executors did say the estate might support the three children and Jackson’s mother through “the family allowance.”
Jackson had his two eldest children, Prince and Paris, with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe.
He welcomed Bigi in 2002 via a surrogate.
The siblings are now 27, 26 and 21, respectively.
In 2021, Prince described the siblings’ closeness.
“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.