Michael Jackson's three children dealt difficult financial blow
Michael Jackson's children and his mom are facing financial difficulties after being blocked from receiving funds from the late singer's trust.
Prince, 27, Paris, 25, Bigi, 21, are beneficiaries of the King of Pop's trust and his mom, Katherine, 94, is a sole beneficiary of a sub trust.
But according to documents obtained by People and filed on May 28, neither his children, nor his mother will received financial distributions until the dispute between Michael's estate and the IRS has been resolved.
Attorneys for the children and Katherine previously asked that some funds be distributed to the family trust while the dispute is ongoing but the request was denied.
It was claimed that the "family allowance" could provide for them instead.
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The long-running battle began following an IRS audit of the estate's federal tax return.
A "note of deficiency" was issued to the estate which claimed it had undervalued assets and owed $700 million in penalties and taxes.
In 2021, the estate won that battle after disputing the assessments but have since filed a reconsideration - taking into account the court's value of Michael's music catalog, known as Mijac (owned by Sony music) - which is still pending.
The value of the estate has therefore not been finalized for tax purposes and the estate and IRS cannot agree on the value of the deduction until then.
The latest twist comes amidst Bigi's battle with his grandmother.
In March, he filed to stop his grandma from spending his dad's estate funds amid their legal battle.
In documents obtained by TMZ, Bigi tried to block Katherine from using money from Michael's estate to fund an appeal on a previous ruling in the complex fight.
Bigi and Katherine have been on the same page until now as they try to stop the executors of Michael's estate from making a costly transaction.
While the case has been shrouded in secrecy, it was reported that the deal they were opposing was the sale of Michael's music catalogue to Sony for $600 million.
It appears that Katherine is eager to appeal the decision but Bigi sees the legal issue as closed and doesn't want further funds or money from the estate - to which he is an heir - being used to fight it.
Bigi also asked the court that they "use its best judgment" to grant Katherine reasonable attorney fees which have been incurred during the process.
Katherine contested the filing and said that the estate is well-endowed with "hundreds of millions of dollars" that would remain for the beneficiaries even after her legal expenses are met.
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