Paris Jackson has asked a Los Angeles probate court to force Michael Jackson family trust funding with a $600 million distribution from the estate. The filing puts the money trail and the long-delayed trust in the same courtroom, where the beneficiaries’ wait is now a formal dispute.
Paris Jackson and the $600 million request
The filing says Paris Jackson and her brothers have waited more than 17 years for the trust to be funded, even though Michael Jackson intended for his children, including Prince Jackson and Bigi Jackson, to receive income on their respective twenty-first birthdays. Those dates have all long passed, and the document says the family trust remains unfunded more than 17 years after his passing.
Paris Jackson also says Michael intended for each sibling to begin receiving outright principal distributions on their respective thirtieth birthdays. Prince Jackson turns 30 in four months, Paris Jackson turns 29 in April, and Bigi Jackson turns 25 in February. On that timeline, the funding fight is no longer about future planning; it is about whether the trust was ever activated on schedule.
2011 and the unfinished plan
The filing points back to 2011, when executors told the court they were contemplating and did intend to file a separate Petition for Preliminary Distribution. Fifteen years later, the beneficiaries are still waiting. Paris Jackson’s attorneys say the estate has generated significant money through business deals and property sales, including the sale of its interest in EMI Music Publishing, the sale of Neverland Ranch, and a deal with Sony regarding Michael Jackson’s music and IP assets.
Her legal team says the estate holds approximately $600 million in distributable cash, even when potential liabilities are taken into account. That figure is the practical center of the filing: if the number is accurate, the trust can be funded now; if it is not, the court will have to weigh the estate’s own cash position against the beneficiaries’ claim.
Michael Jackson Estate and IRS dispute
The Michael Jackson Estate told People that it was unable fully fund the trusts in question until other legal matters were resolved. One unresolved legal matter involves litigation with the Internal Revenue Service seeking $700 million in taxes and penalties from the estate, and the estate said it had secured a ruling to significantly reduce that amount.
That leaves the court to decide whether the estate should move money now or keep it reserved while the tax fight stays open. Paris Jackson’s filing pushes the issue beyond family frustration and into a cash-allocation ruling that could determine when the Michael Jackson Family Trust finally receives the money she says has been waiting for years.
