Michael Jackson's estate put its value at $5.1 million, the Tax Court set $111.5 million, and a judge later ordered $625,000 in bonuses returned

Michael Jackson died on 25 June 2009, aged 50, of acute propofol intoxication; the Los Angeles County coroner ruled it a homicide. His 2002 will, filed on 1 July 2009, left everything to the Michael Jackson Family Trust: 40% to his mother Katherine, 40% to his 3 children and 20% to children's charities. His father, Joe Jackson, and his siblings got nothing, and the will "intentionally omitted" his ex-wife Debbie Rowe. On 6 July 2009 a judge gave control of the estate to the executors named in the will, the lawyer John Branca and the music executive John McClain. Jackson was reported to be more than $500 million in debt. His doctor, Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on 7 November 2011 and sentenced to 4 years. On 2 October 2013 a jury rejected Katherine Jackson's $1.5 billion negligent-hiring suit against the concert promoter AEG Live. The executors sold the estate's half of Sony/ATV to Sony for $750 million in 2016. The IRS put the estate tax bill at over $500 million; the estate said everything was worth $5.1 million. On 3 May 2021 US Tax Court Judge Mark Holmes set the value at $111.5 million, including $4 million for Jackson's name and likeness. In August 2024 a California appeals court let the executors sell part of the catalogue to Sony Music for about $600 million over Katherine's objections. In July 2025 his daughter Paris objected to $625,000 in 2018 bonus payments to 3 law firms; she also alleges the executors took more than $10 million in compensation in 2021, which they deny. On 13 May 2026 a Los Angeles judge disallowed the $625,000 and ordered it returned to the estate. McClain died on 26 May 2026. Status: estate in probate in Los Angeles Superior Court, with Branca as executor^†.