Michael Jackson’s estate is usually seen as a case-study of everything that can possibly go wrong when a family starts fighting over an estate. It can now also be seen as evidence that sometimes wounds created when families fight over estates can be mended.
No recent celebrity estate has been more troubled and contentious than Michael Jackson’s. It has been a near constant source of news, family fights and feuds.
One of the biggest issues that bogged the estate down was that Michael’s father, Joe Jackson, refused to support the estate. He was upset that Michael had cut him and his other children out of receiving a portion of the estate.
This feud created several problems for the estate, as is always the case when a prominent member of a deceased person’s family does not agree with an estate plan and chooses to fight it. However, TMZ reports that Joe Jackson has changed his mind in “Joe Jackson Now Solidly Behind MJ Estate.”
The estate was able to win Joe Jackson over by paying his medical bills when he had a stroke and producing a documentary that painted him in a favorable light. He has also come to the conclusion that the estate is doing a good job taking care of Michael’s children.
What is of interest here is that the estate was able to resolve the problem by being nice instead of continuing to escalate the conflict with Michael’s father.
There is a lesson here for other estates that suffer from family conflicts. Sometimes, it pays to play nice.
Reference: TMZ (April 10, 2017) “Joe Jackson Now Solidly Behind MJ Estate.”
