Pascal Le Segretain/Getty; Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Michael Jackson's daughter Paris has become "concerned" regarding payments made by her late father's estate According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, the executors of Michael's estate requested approval for over $625K in payments for hat Paris claims is "unrecorded attorney time" "We are confident that the objected-to payments are appropriate," Jonathan Steinsapir, the attorney for the Estate of Michael Jackson, tells PEOPLE Michael Jackson's daughterParis Jacksonis "concerned" regarding payments being made by her father's estate. According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Paris, 27, as abeneficiary of her late father's estate, objected to a request for court approval of and was "concerned" with the estate executors' alleged "practice of granting so-called 'premium payments' for unrecorded attorney time, much less paying one-hundred percent of any such extraordinary amounts." The documents, filed on June 24, name a six-month period in 2018 when the executors requested approval for $625,000 in payments to three law firms for what Paris describes as "uncaptured time," without explaining "as to why counsel was incapable of recording unbilled time, or why such a failure should not preclude payment." Two of the law firms had received their prospective "premium payments," violating the "Court's order allowing only partial payment of attorneys' fees until Court approval is obtained," the filing claims. "Even worse, these payments appear, at least in part, to consist of lavish gratuities bestowed upon already well-compensated counsel," the court docs allege. Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The payments "raise serious and substantial questions about Executors' ability to effectively supervise counsel," the documents state, "by, at minimum, requiring that counsel record their time in a manner susceptible to at least superficial review and oversite [sic], namely by means of task-billed time entries, and refraining from wasteful, six-figure gift-giving to themselves and their colleagues." Additionally, Paris is "concerned" regarding the Executor's alleged "gross lack of diligence in seeking the required Court approval for extraordinary fees and costs" for the 2018 payments. The documents claim that the executors were unable to give an explanation for the delays. In court docs, Paris' attorney Craig Peters claimed that there was "no written agreement" authorizing the executors to seek approval for fees in six-month increments in an email dated May 29. He also requested a "schedule for all of the outstanding approvals, both the accountings and the legal fees." A hearing regarding this issue is scheduled for July 16. Elyse Jankowski/Variety via Getty "The Executors' approval of payments to attorneys have been made with the same business judgment that has earned this Estate over $3 billion," Jonathan Steinsapir, the attorney for the Estate of Michael Jackson, tells PEOPLE in response to Paris' filing. "We are confident that the objected-to payments are appropriate as, indeed, they are fully consistent with payments made in the decade prior, all of which have been approved by the Probate Court." Meanwhile, a source close to the Jackson estate tells PEOPLE, "They are objecting to relatively minor bonuses to three firms for work on theEMI catalog sale in 2018," referring to the "premium payments." "The estate, assisted by these lawyers and others, bought a 10% stake in EMI for $50,000 in 2012 due to a contractual right we had with Sony." "In 2018, the stake sold for almost $300 million! Any business in this position would reward those who worked on that matter through the years," the source adds. "They also claim that the estate had to withhold 30 percent of all fees pending court approval. On that, they are simply mistaken and do not understand the court's orders. The estate has paid bonuses like this to attorneys for years and they've all been approved without any objections." Gianfranco Calcagno/FilmMagic At the time of his death in 2009,Michael was over $500 million in debt. According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE in June 2024, the musician owed money to more than 65 creditors when he died. Before hedied at age 50 of apparent cardiac arrest, the "Thriller" singer was gearing up for acomebackwith a residency at the 02 Arena in London through 2010. At the same time, he was accruing $30 million in debt a year, perThe Los Angeles Times. When he died, the responsibility of his debt fell onto his estate. Paris, along with brothersPrinceandBigi, serve as beneficiaries of the late pop star's estate. Read the original article onPeople
