Jackson had long history with estate executor

[Zori]

from the last 2 posts i get mainly this fact - Michael was either crazy or he had gun to his head!!!

Do you really really believe that he could NOT change his will in the past 7 years?? And don't tell that Branca is hiding the newer will!!!!! because if there is a new will and Michael wanted people like his mom and Janet to be in charge, for sure, he won't let Branca to keep it till the right momnet. And also don't tell that Michael forgor what was written in the will.

I have trust in Michael's personal vision for the time after he is no more here! And if he pointed Branca - then Katherine should sit down and take it.

 

[Oceangirl]

rsw22:

you say that Branca failed to remined MJ to update his will, which he used to update every five years . this "update his will every five years "statement came from the family .

the same family who went to court after MJ's death and said his mother should be put in charge of everything because they did n't believe he had a will .

Only when Branca came from his vacation and presented the will , the family's story regarding the will changed and they claimed there was another will because mj used to update his will every five years .

 

[mischief]

Travesty of justice to appoint a replacement co-executor after one has resigned?
Damn, some of you really have it out for Katherine that i begin to think Branca has some agents on fan forums to promote his agenda.

It's such a Travesty of justice for the mother who was a trustee in 2009 while Michael was alive, to then be appointed as a trustee immediately after she dies.
But it's not a travesty of justice for a lawyer that the client fired, to then re-appear a week before his death make him sign a document to take control of everything and then provide both the old will and the document immediately after death.

If we were watching a movie with such a scene, viewers would say that there is something dodgy going on.
In fact any sensible person would advocate for a family member to be involved, given the circumstances.

The will specifically did not allow for a replacement executor.

Re his mum being a trustee see my previous post re protection from creditors.

Admittedly the document signed weeks before Michael's death does not sit easily with me either.

 

[mischief]

Branca was not acting in the best interests of Michael Jackson but in the best interests of Branca

And I hope Katherine's legal team can pursue this issue with Beckloff, and then if it fails, the California Supreme court and the appellate courts, as far as it can go, concerning the duties of a legal representative and the precedent it sets.
An attorney has a legal and ethical duty to act in the best interests of the client, irrespective of circumstances

When a lawyer is entrusted with legal affairs, it's his/her legal duty to oversee those affairs and notify the client and those concerned accordingly, and to act in their best interests.

When a client entrusts a lawyer or law firm with a will, whether the law firm represents the client at that time or not, once set periods agreed with the client or set out in the will come to pass, the lawyer/law firm has a duty to notify those concerned.

Say if an Uncle lives a will for an heir who doesn't know about it, at the point that the heir reaches 18 years, if that's what the will says, then the law firm has to notify the heir. If the will says, upon the death of the uncle, then the law firm has to notify the heir.

If the will requires the uncle to update it every 4, 5 or 6 years, then the law firm has to notify the uncle to update his will because they were entrusted with that duty.
The Uncle may have circumstances that make him unable to remember to update the will, say he is in a care home, the law firm, whether representing the Uncle at that point or not, but with the duty to maintain the will, have a duty to contact the Uncle, arrange a meeting for updating the will. This can only be negated when the Uncle tells the law firm that he no longer wishes for them to handle affairs of his will, even if they have or have not been representing him.
　
It was in Michael's best interests to have the will maintained every 5 years. The will was maintained in 1997, 2002 but in 2007 when it should have been maintained, it was not.

Michael was overwhelmed with a lot of legal and financial issues between 2007 and 2008, then 2009 it was the meetings and deals to do tours.
Michael was not in the best position, in the midst of all these overwhelming legal issues, to recall that he had to update his will in 2007.

Branca and his law firm, who had a duty to notify Michael that his will was due for update, failed in their legal duty to do so, even though they have systems in place to remind them of duties coming up that need to be maintained and/or acted upon.
Branca had not passed on this duty of maintaining the will to any other lawyer or law firm, even though he had ceased representing Michael as a lawyer.

A law firm/lawyer maintaining the will does not need to also be representing the client on a daily basis as that is a separate duty on its own.



THEREFORE
Branca and his law firm failed in his ethical and legal duty to act in the best interests of their client over the 52 weeks of 2007, and subsequently the entire 52 weeks of 2008


BRANCA'S BEST INTERESTS


What seems to be the case here is that Branca was unwilling to remind Michael concerning the updating of the will every 5 years because he was not Michael's daily attorney at the time and therefore felt that any update of the will would lead him and his law firm losing out as Michael might change the executors.

It was therefore in Branca's best interests not to carry out his duty to notify the owner of the will about the need to update it till such a point in time that he was back in the loop managing all his affairs.

It was his duty to let Michael, who had entrusted him and his law firm with the maintenance of the will, know that the will was due for update irrespective of whether or not he or his law firm would be retained. And Michael could have informed Branca whether he still wished for his law firm to carry on handling his will or had transferred its maintenance to another law firm


REMEDY

The remedy for such is for the courts to find that Branca and his law firm failed in their ethical and legal duty to notify the concerned for a period of over 2 years, when his will was due for update.

And upon such a finding, to then find a cure for such conduct, by either recursing the executors, or enabling an executor to be appointed to oversee that the law firm acts in the best interests of the client.

Also, the law firm should be fined as a deterrent to other law firms who may seek not to inform their clients about issues, so as to promote their best interests over those of the client for instance, whose will they maintain.
　
This case is all the more important because this was not a one-off will that a client wrote to be put in the safe till he dies.
This is a will that the client wanted updated every five years and the law firm had a duty to ensure that was done whether or not they represented the owner of the will on other matters.

It's similar to a person owning an insurance policy that they want to be reviewed every 5 years, but then the law firm entrusted with maintaining the insurance policy, fails for 2 years to notify the client that the insurance policy is due for review as was requested.
That law firm would have failed in its duty to act in the best interests of the policy holder

The will did not make any reference to any requirement to update it - either every five years, or at ALL. So, since there was no duty to be FAILED, there was no failure of duty.

Branca was only HOLDING the will. He was under no duty to MAINTAIN the will.

 

[rsw22]

rsw22:

you say that Branca failed to remined MJ to update his will, which he used to update every five years . this "update his will every five years "statement came from the family .

the same family who went to court after MJ's death and said his mother should be put in charge of everything because they did n't believe he had a will .

Only when Branca came from his vacation and presented the will , the family's story regarding the will changed and they claimed there was another will because mj used to update his will every five years .

Actually even though i don't often agree with Latoya's views, the family story did not change.

To Latoya's credit, she mentioned two things, which people then came and admitted to.

Latoya said MJ kept cash with him, then Tahome came and admitted he had cash

Latoya disclosed that MJ updated his will every 5 years, then the Branca's acknowledge MJ had a 1997 will but no 2007 will.

How did Latoya know this info? MJ must have shared it with her or some family member on whose behalf she spoke.

Given that they were awaiting for a will to be produced by a lawyer and no lawyer was stepping up, MJ's mother had to take action in the absence of a will and the lawyers had to word it that way, but from Latoya's remarks, they knew someone was holding onto the will.

I mean, how can a responsible lawyer wait all that time when the first action that lawyers take upon the death of someone is to rush and freeze their account, and lockdown their assets to prevent fraud.

You can see when MJ was being rushed to hospital and not even confirmed dead, the guards did a lock down and sent all staff home.
If guards can do the physical lockdown of a premises, where was the lawyer that got MJ to sign off control of everything?
Where was he to do the lock down on assets, accounts and other items?
Any other lawyer with that duty would have flown back straight away and gone to work, hey, even presidents cut short their holidays in an emergency and fly straight back, not wait for a week after Katherine has gone to court to try and secure the assets.

If Katherine and Londell knew they had to do this, what about Branca who had the will and the document giving him control of everything? Where was he?


Then Branca comes along and presents the will.


Even as the family announces it's going to court for Katherine to take charge, Branca can't make a courtesy call to have them wait as he might have the last will, in this age of mobile phones.

The will doesn't have to specify that it was to be renewed every 5 years. The 1997 and 2002 wills and testimony of family are sufficient to show and support that the will was updatable every 5 years.

Otherwise, how did Latoya know before they were compelled to reveal the 1997 will? which was exactly 5 years before the 2002 will.

And for Michael forgetting, well he forgot for months to fax over Ramone's termination form to the lawyer, which was on his desk, till he got round to doing it.
A very important document that sparked a $44million lawsuit.
If Michael can forget something on his desk, what about something that is with a lawyer, without any reminder for him?

 

[tamfen]

RSW22, I find a lot of what you say are not based on facts but on hearsay, you keep quoting Latoya alot and we know that she is not the most reliable source out there when it comes to MJ's business . I have not heard any other Jackson family member state that there is a later will. Surely, if there was one after 2002 it would have surfaced by now.

 

[Oceangirl]

what about the very simple fact that in 1997 mj had only prince and later he had two other kids , notice he updated his will after Blanket was born . very LOGICAL .

as for his mother going to trial 48 hours after his death , her main argument and main reason was according to her attorney that mj created accounts to pay the bills at Encino and she was afraid that someone was going to steal the money and she would not be able to pay the bills . she went and said she did not believe mj had a will and she must be appointed in charge of his money . They said that although it was pretty known by that time that indeed Branca had a will . AND when they were asked about the Branca's will , their sources kept saying they did not believe there was one .

Branca stopped working for mj and he may very well thought mj had a more recent will , regardless it was again pretty known he had one . He waited and when no one did came forward , he went to court with MJ's will .

Latoya has a history in making up lies so she could very well came with the "every 5 years he updated his will "because she knew that he had one in 1997 and the next one was in 2002. She made a simple calculation and came up with the 5 years updates.

 

[parli123]

I do not trust Branca or McClain. Why do they want to be the executors of an estate that is $500 million in debt? Because they know it is a lie and they can make money for themselves..Any thing for money..They are no friend of Michael or his Kids..This is America and here Greed rules the day..Don't be shocked or suprised when you see thigs go wrong. or the children get no money.
Michael must have had a good reason to fire these people..Why did he reinstate then just before he was Murdered? Who made him hire them? and why?
It all comes back to AEG and Sony. They are the ones who will gain..I can bet Michael was being Blackmailed..as one ex-executive of Sony said..

 

[Gaiaschild]

What I find odd is why Michael wrote to John Branca 8 days before he died reiterating he was executor of his estate and handling his affairs, why did he feel the need to write this letter, was it genuine?

Also someone on another thread said she read somewhere a while ago that he had made a new will the time and now cannot find the same source for it as it has been removed presumably. Of course it may not have been true who knows.

I can't help thinking he may have made a will during his time in Bahrain, but if there is anything suspicious in his death than it could have been destroyed. I think it is suspicious that there isn't a more recent will given that he had made them every 5 years.