According to billboard.com, Michael Jackson’s estate won tentative court ruling that would allow it to proceed with a $600 million sale of the singer’s catalog to Sony Music, by overcoming objections from Jackson’s mother that aimed to block the deal. Katherine Jackson had argued that the deal allegedly violated the terms of her son’s will but a California appeals court tentatively ruled on July 17 that Katherine had allegedly “forfeited” that argument by allegedly failing to argue it before a lower probate court.
Even if she had properly raised that argument, the appeals court tentatively ruled that the estate’s executors had the power to make the deal. The court said Jackson’s will had vested the executors John Branca and John McClain with the authority to “sell, invest, or otherwise manage estate property” while they were in charge.
“The court is tentatively inclined to affirm the probate court’s order granting the executors’ request to proceed with the proposed transaction,” the appeals court wrote in its ruling, which Billboard had reported, “We tentatively conclude that Katherine’s challenge fails on the merits because the probate court’s order does not violate the terms of Michael’s will.”
As reported by Billboard earlier this year, the Jackson estate and Sony Music have reached a deal that will see the music giant buy half of the singer’s publishing and recorded masters catalog for more than $600 million. But because the Jackson estate is still pending before a Los Angeles probate court more than 15 years after his 2009 death, his executors took the then-confidential deal to Judge Mitchell Beckloff for approval.
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