Michael Jackson‘s estate is speaking out.
After Paris Jackson objected to “premium payouts” being made by the financial team to outside legal counsel for unrecorded attorney time, the estate’s co-executors John Branca and John McClain addressed her opposition in a response filing obtained by E! News July 16.
In the document, filed in court July 15, Branca and McClain argued that the extra payouts were appropriate after the legal teams helped turn around the estate, which was “saddled with $500 million of debt” when her father passed away in 2009 at age 50.
As the executors explained, the firms’ “experience, negotiating skills, relationships, and knowledge of the entertainment and international music publishing and recording businesses were instrumental and critical in assisting and supporting the Executors in achieving unprecedented results for the Estate.”
Additionally, Branca and McClain said that compensating law firms with supplementary payments is nothing new within their field of work.
“It is not unusual and in fact is quite common, in the entertainment/music business for attorneys with the level of skills, experience, and relationships of Mr. Weitzman and Mr. Katz to receive compensation in addition to their hourly rate fee payment,” the filing stated. “And indeed, the Court has approved prior payments like this in the past.”
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