Bigi “Blanket” Jackson has been making headlines like crazy lately because he’s suing his own grandmother, Katherine Jackson. Let’s get into the truth behind their legal battle, because the reason he’s taking her to court is seriously surprising.
When Michael Jackson tragically passed away in 2009, all three of his children were minors. But Bigi was the youngest at just 7 years old. The kids went to live with Katherine, who was declared their legal guardian and was later granted custodial rights.
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Bigi, who’s now 22 years old, has always been the most private of his siblings. He usually stays out of the public eye. So when news recently broke that he had decided to sue his paternal grandma, everyone was completely shocked.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Bigi filed a motion against his grandma in mid-March. In the filing, he asked the judge to block Katherine from using funds from his late father’s estate to cover certain costs.
Though the filing sounds extreme, Bigi isn’t trying to completely prevent his grandma from having access to the estate’s money. He only requested that she not be allowed to use those funds to pay for her attorney fees, related to a specific case. Bigi doesn’t want Katherine to be able to use the estate’s money to foot the bill for the legal expenses from her latest objections and appeal.
Bigi Previously Supported His Grandma’s Legal Decisions
But People magazine reported that he wasn’t totally against her using some funds from the estate to cover those costs. The conditions he explained in his filing were detailed in a surprising way.
Bigi stated that he was on board with Katherine using money from the estate to pay for a ‘reasonable’ amount of her appeal-related legal expenses. He said that because she initially provided “essential evidence” to the court, he didn’t object to the estate’s funds being used to cover some of her attorney fees.
However, Bigi claimed that he believed the amount of legal fees his grandmother wanted the estate to pay was too high. He thought it was unnecessary that she hired multiple lawyers who charged hourly rates between $840 and $1,400.
It’s also important to understand Bigi’s previous stance. He hasn’t always been against the legal decisions his grandma has made.
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Interestingly, he was actually in agreement with her as recently as last year. But the reason why he specifically had an issue with Katherine’s objections and appeal was honestly bizarre.
According to Billboard, Michael’s estate asked the court to approve a major business transaction in 2022. It was reportedly a deal to sell half of his music catalog to Sony for a whopping $600 million. But what happened next was truly unbelievable.
Katherine didn’t think the estate should go through with the deal before hearing other offers that might be higher. So she filed an objection. At the time, Bigi and his siblings sided with her, even though they weren’t formally included in her written objection.
John Branca and John McClain Are Against Katherine’s Request
In April 2023, the judge made a final decision regarding the deal, and it was seriously startling. Ultimately, the judge ruled in favor of the estate and approved the multi-million dollar deal.
Although Bigi and his siblings accepted the situation, Katherine decided to file an appeal that’s still pending. But it wasn’t until a few months ago that she filed the request that Bigi is currently suing her over.
In December, Katherine asked the court to have her legal fees covered by funds from the estate. This included the costs of the ongoing appeal, covered by funds from the estate.
However, the Billboard article also revealed that at the beginning of March, the co-executors of Michael’s estate filed an insane response. It turns out that the co-executors, John Branca and John McClain, are very against Katherine’s request.
They argued that her objections had clearly failed and that her appeal would be useless. They believed that the estate shouldn’t cover those expenses, which totaled over $560,000.
John Branca and John McClain’s filing mentioned that the estate was currently valued at over $2 billion. They added that 15 years ago, it was racked with an unreal amount of debt. But they stressed that the estate’s financial growth could only be credited to its recent business transactions, including the $600 million deal with Sony.
John Branca and John McClain’s response also revealed that they had granted almost every single request for funds that Katherine has made since Michael passed away. Over the years, she’s reportedly received more than $55 million in financial assistance from the estate.
Katherine Wasn’t Listed as a Beneficiary
But as bizarre as it might sound, Katherine isn’t even one of the estate’s beneficiaries. In Michael’s will, he set aside a separate trust fund solely for Katherine. According to People magazine, other than various charities, the only beneficiaries of his estate are his three children.
When Bigi filed his injunction with the court a couple of weeks after the co-executors’ response, his statements were incredibly similar. Bigi claimed that if the court approved Katherine’s request to have the estate cover her legal expenses, it wouldn’t be fair to him or his siblings, who are reportedly supportive of his filing.
He explained that his grandma’s chances of winning the appeal were slim and basically called it a waste of time. Bigi made it clear that he didn’t think it would be right if he and his siblings were forced to pay all of their grandmother’s legal fees. He also explained that it wouldn’t benefit the estate at all.
But it wasn’t long before Katherine fired back against her grandson’s filing, and how she responded was absolutely outrageous. According to court documents obtained by People magazine, Katherine made a bold accusation against the estate’s co-executors.
She believed that John Branca and John McClain were too stingy with the amount of money awarded to the beneficiaries. But that wasn’t all.
Katherine then claimed that the estate had plenty of funds and could definitely afford to pay her legal expenses. She also dropped a major allegation regarding the co-executors’ supposed shady motives.
Bigi Is Trying to Protect Katherine
Katherine accused John Branca and John McClain of not awarding enough funds to Michael’s children and trust accounts. She even said that was the co-executors’ way of attempting to control the estate’s beneficiaries. But as strange as her allegations might have seemed, what happened after she filed her response was honestly crazy.
Recently, sources close to the Jackson family spoke to The New York Post about why Bigi decided to sue Katherine. The insiders said his intentions behind taking his grandmother to court were reportedly in her best interest. What they revealed next was truly shocking.
The sources claimed that Bigi was doing exactly what his late father had done. He was allegedly protecting Katherine from some of the other members of the family. They explained that for years, certain people in the family had supposedly been taking advantage of her financially.
According to the insiders, Bigi didn’t want to deny Katherine any funds from the estate. But if his request for the judge to block her from using the estate’s money to pay for her insanely high legal bills is approved, the end result will be an unexpected victory for her as well.
If Katherine isn’t able to gain access to over half a million dollars from the estate to cover her legal fees, Bigi’s filing will have at least one remarkable benefit. None of the family members who have reportedly been manipulating Katherine into giving them her money will be able to take any more from her.
What one of the sources admitted next was seriously concerning. Allegedly, almost everyone in the family has financially benefited from Katherine’s access to the estate’s money.
Katherine Gave Up Fighting the Co-Executors
Even though it seems like she has been battling John Branca and John McClain in court for a while, the insider confessed that actually isn’t the case. The source told The New York Post that Katherine supposedly gave up fighting against the estate’s co-executors long ago.
Certain family members are still desperately trying to get more money from the estate. They’ve been “calling the shots” behind the scenes.
The Jackson family insider claimed that Katherine’s name might be the only one listed in the court documents, but it’s really been her greedy relatives making the decisions. They added that Bigi would never financially cut off his grandma. But the reason why he’s suing “her” is allegedly to put a stop to the family members who have been taking advantage of her for years.
It’s honestly hard to know what to believe regarding the actual reason Bigi is taking Katherine to court. It’ll be interesting to see what the judge decides, and if any other crazy details will be exposed by the sources claiming to be close to the Jackson family.
