The estate of Michael Jackson has emerged victorious, once again, in a court of law with a court’s recent ruling.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the estate of Michael Jackson went up against the Internal Revenue Service in the U.S. Tax Court in a dispute about the eccentric entertainer’s worth at the time of his untimely death. In dispute was the amount of Jackson’s worth, with the judge ultimately deciding that the family’s stated figure was much closer to what the government claimed it to be.
The Internal Revenue Service estimated Jackson’s likeness and image to be about $434 million, while his estate stated that he was only worth about $2,000 at the time he had passed away back in 2009.
Earlier this week, U.S. Tax Court Judge Mark Holmes stated his reasoning in a more than 250-page ruling.
“From the time he was a child Michael Jackson was famous; and there were times in his life, testified his executor, when he was the most famous person in the world. There were certainly years when he was the most well-known popular-music star, and even after his death there have been years when he was the world’s highest-earning entertainer. But there were also many years when he was more famous for his unusual behavior and not his unusual talent. And there were some years where his fame was turned infamous by serious accusations of the most noisome acts. We make no particular judgment about what Jackson did or is alleged to have done, but we must decide how what he did and is alleged to have done affected the value of what he left behind.”
John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of The Estate of Michael Jackson, issued a statement:
“This thoughtful ruling by the U.S. Tax Court is a huge, unambiguous victory for Michael Jackson’s children. For nearly 12 years Michael’s Estate has maintained that the government’s valuation of Michael’s assets on the day he passed away was outrageous and unfair, one that would have saddled his heirs with an oppressive tax liability of more than $700 million. While we disagree with some portions of the decision, we believe it clearly exposes how unreasonable the IRS valuation was and provides a path forward to finally resolve this case in a fair and just manner.”
This adds on to recent court victories Jackson’s estate has won.
Late last month, a judge dismissed a molestation lawsuit against Michael Jackson. His estate also won its appeal in the HBO Leaving Neverland lawsuit. And at this time last year, judges had declared that Jackson’s estate did not have to pay legendary Quincy Jones $6.9 million in royalties.