Burial fit for a King of Pop adds up to a princely sum: Michael Jackson funeral cost over $1M
Nancy Dillon
November 11, 2009
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2009/11/11/2009-11-11_funeral_to_die_for_jackos_burial_bills_bigger_than_life_add_up_to_more_than_1m.html
LOS ANGELES – Even in death, the King of Pop got the royal treatment.
The bills prove it.
Court documents reveal Michael Jackson’s September funeral cost more than a million bucks, with the estate shelling out $35,000 for his burial garments, $3,682 for framing of his photo and $21,455 for the late-night restaurant reception.
“I probably would have done it less expensively, but it was Michael Jackson. He was bigger than life when he was alive, and there’s no reason why his funeral shouldn’t be bigger than life,” estate attorney Howard Weitzman said.
The biggest-ticket item was the $855,730.31 contract with Forest Lawn Memorial Park – including $590,000 for title to Jacko’s crypt.
The cost details out yesterday came after Katherine Jackson’s lawyer announced she was ending her war with the executors appointed in her son’s will.
“She wants the fighting to end and to get on with the business of making money for the estate and not spending money on these disputes,” her attorney Adam Streisand told a judge.
A lawyer for her husband, Joe Jackson, called the surprise deal “despicable.”
“She has now reneged on her obligation to her family,” lawyer Brian Oxman said, stating that Joe Jackson still planned to challenge the will to get more control.
The judge okayed the executors’ authority over Joe Jackson’s claim they “discriminated” against him when they gave Katherine a monthly allowance but not him. He wants a stipend, too, saying he was a “dependant” of his son and can’t live on the $1,700 he receives monthly from Social Security.
The judge said the family patriarch can petition for an allowance but not much else. “Joe Jackson ultimately takes none of this estate, and that was a decision his son made,” the judge said.
Michael Jackson estate fight becomes public family dispute
Alan Duke
November 10, 2009
CNN.com
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/10/michael.jackson.estate/index.html
Los Angeles, California (CNN) — Michael Jackson’s mother dropped her challenge of the two men named as executors in her son’s will, but her sudden reversal caught her husband by surprise Tuesday and led to a bitter fight in court.
In the end, the judge approved John Branca and John McClain as executors to run the pop star’s estate and he ruled that Michael Jackson’s father had no right to challenge the decision.
Joe Jackson, however, will have his day in court in December to argue that he should get a monthly allowance from his son’s huge estate.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff also unsealed court documents that revealed the family spent $1.1 million on Michael Jackson’s funeral in August, using money from his estate.
Katherine Jackson’s change of heart came three weeks after she hired attorney Adam Streisand to replace the lawyers who were leading her four-month-long challenge of Branca and McClain.
Streisand announced in court Tuesday morning that Katherine Jackson “feels it’s high time that the fighting ends.”
“She feels that Mr. Branca and Mr. McClain have been doing an admirable job,” Streisand said. “We’re going to try to partner with them and work closely with them to make sure that the estate is doing the best that it can for the legacy of Michael Jackson, for the kids, most importantly.”
Streisand said Katherine Jackson kept the decision a secret from the rest of her family until Tuesday.
It drew a harsh response from attorney Brian Oxman, who on Monday filed Joe Jackson’s challenge of Branca and McClain. It was a fight that Oxman said Katherine Jackson had promised she would help wage.
“She has now reneged on her obligation to her family,” Oxman told the judge. Joe Jackson’s lawyer said Katherine Jackson’s reversal was “one of the most despicable displays” he’s ever seen in court.
Oxman accused Katherine Jackson of reaching a secret deal — behind Joe Jackson’s back — with the men who control their son’s estate.
Her lawyer fired back.
“That is not only baseless, but just a product of Mr. Oxman’s imagination,” Streisand said.
There was no deal and it was a surprise to the estate lawyers, he said.
“Before I announced my position, Mrs. Jackson and I were the only two people in the world who knew what I was going to say,” Streisand said.
As for Joe Jackson’s challenge for control, Streisand told the judge, “He has no right in the assets of the estate.”
Until now, the Jacksons have painted a united public front in the battle over who controls the estate.
“Lawyer to lawyer, it was contentious between the two of us in there, in order to try to get things to come to a resolution,” Streisand said after court.
“She doesn’t wish in any way to be involved in any dispute or fight with him, but she wants to see things get moving along in a more cooperative way,” he said, referring to Katherine Jackson and her husband.
Joe Jackson, 81, and Katherine Jackson, 79, have been married for 60 years but they live separately.
Joe Jackson is not named as a beneficiary in his son’s 2002 will, but he filed a petition last week asking for an allowance from his son’s estate to cover $20,000 in monthly living expenses.
Katherine Jackson is a beneficiary of the will, along with Michael Jackson’s three children and unidentified charities, and she receives a monthly allowance as ordered by the court in July.
Katherine Jackson supports her husband’s request for a monthly allowance, Streisand said.
Howard Weitzman, the lead lawyer for the estate, said they would take her wishes into consideration in deciding their position on an allowance for Joe Jackson.
Judge Beckloff will hear his request for a monthly allowance on December 10.
Joe Jackson’s petition to challenge the executors is dead, unless Oxman can resurrect it in a appeals court, which he told the judge he may try.
“I hope that an appellate court will agree with me,” Oxman said.
Joe Jackson contended that Branca and McClain should be disqualified as executors because they hid from the court a mistake regarding Jackson’s signature.
The signature section of the will said it was signed on July 7, 2002, in Los Angeles, although there is proof that Michael Jackson was in New York on that date, Oxman said.
The judge ruled that only a beneficiary, such as Katherine Jackson, is in a position to make the challenge.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday showed the estate paid $1,098,000 for Jackson’s funeral and burial.
The bulk of the cost went to Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, which was paid $855,730, including $590,000 for the crypt and monument inside the Holly Terrace section of it’s Great Mausoleum, the document said.
Jackson’s burial garments cost $35,000, while another $16,000 was spent in flowers for the funeral, the papers said.
Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, from what the coroner ruled was “acute propofol intoxication.”
Judge: Joe Jackson can’t challenge executors
Katherine withdraws objection to estate’s administrators during hearing
Associated Press
November 10, 2009
MSNBC.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33824998/ns/entertainment-celebrities/
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson’s father does not stand to inherit any of his son’s assets and cannot challenge the appointment of the executors chosen by the singer to handle his will, a judge said Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff said Joe Jackson was not named in the will but could pursue a motion to receive a family allowance from the estate because he claimed his son had been supporting him.
Joe Jackson and his son had an often-strained relationship, and Michael Jackson said at one point that he would get physically sick — as a child and as an adult — at the sight of his father.
Beckloff ended a contentious all-day hearing by telling Joe Jackson’s lawyer, Brian Oxman, that his client had no standing to prolong the legal fray over Jackson’s estate and would gain nothing from doing so.
“I don’t think he gets to step into this and create further litigation,” the judge declared. “Joe Jackson takes none of this estate. This is a decision his son made.”
In another development, the court released an accounting that the estate had paid nearly $1 million in expenses for the private family funeral held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Some of the expenses were $11,716 for invitations and programs; $35,000 for burial garments; $30,000 for cars and security; and $15,000 to a designer.
“I would have done it less expensively. But it was Michael Jackson, who was larger than life,” Howard Weitzman, an attorney for the estate administrators, said outside court. “There’s no reason he should not have a funeral that’s larger than life.”
Earlier in Tuesday’s hearing, Michael Jackson’s mother withdrew her objections to the appointment of two longtime Jackson associates as executors of his will.
The surprise announcement came from Katherine Jackson’s new probate attorney Adam Streisand, who said his client felt it was time for the legal battle to end over the appointment of attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain.
Katherine Jackson now believes their appointment, as spelled out in her son’s will, can “enhance the legacy of Michael Jackson in the best interest of his children,” Streisand said.
It was Streisand’s first major move in the case since he was chosen last month by Katherine Jackson to replace the team that had represented her since her son’s death in June.
Beckloff later made the formal appointment of the executors after deciding Jackson’s father could not challenge the move.
Oxman threatened to appeal, which could interfere further with the appointments.
Streisand said Katherine Jackson decided she wanted to let the executors go about earning money for the estate rather than incurring more legal fees.
Oxman, however, accused her of reneging on an agreement with her family to challenge the executors and called the announcement in court “one of the most despicable things I have ever seen.”
He accused Katherine Jackson of making a secret deal with the executors, a statement vehemently denied by Streisand and Weitzman.
Streisand said no one but he and Jackson knew of her decision until he stood in court and announced it.
“All the credit goes to Mrs. Jackson,” the lawyer said. “She is really the wise sage of this family.”
The judge scheduled a hearing for Dec. 10 on Joe Jackson’s request for a family allowance. Streisand suggested Katherine Jackson would support that request.
The will left Michael Jackson’s assets to his mother, his children and children’s charities.
Branca is an attorney who represented Jackson for more than 20 years and is regarded as the architect of his financial empire.
McClain is a music executive and childhood friend of the singer.
Katherine Jackson’s original legal team complained that she was not being given enough of a role in making decisions after her son’s death. While they considered a challenge, the judge allowed the administrators to go forward with projects including the movie, “This Is It,” which brought $60 million into the estate and became a box office hit.
Branca and McClain were credited as executive producers on the movie.
A 60-page motion filed by Oxman detailed Joe Jackson’s bid to get money from his son’s estate. The father is seeking an allowance to help cover expenses that exceed $15,000 a month, according to the court documents.
Estate of Denial® provides news, analysis and commentary on abusive practices occurring in probate courts and via probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney). We provide original perspective to educate the public regarding this growing threat to both individual freedoms and property rights.
