2/8/16

The Michael Jackson Estate and the INVALID Will



"Under California Probate Code 6110, a written will is valid if the maker signs the document or affirms her signature in the presence of two witnesses, who also sign the will. Witnesses should be disinterested. If one of the witnesses stands to inherit under the will, the law presumes that he used undue influence and the burden is on the witness to prove otherwise."
source: http://info.legalzoom.com/californias-statutory-requirements-last-testament-4189.html


In a recent review of documents, I noticed three witness signatures on the Will of Michael Jackson; Trudy Green, John McClain and Barry Seigel.  The will in question was apparently signed on July 7, 2002 at 5:00 pm, in Los Angeles CA:



Under California law, as stated above, the witnesses on the will should be "disinterested parties". Both Barry Siegel and John McClain were not "disinterested parties" - they were apparently named as executors of the will and both on the board for Sony corporation; a controlling interested party in the catalog Michael Jackson owned called Sony/ATV.  Further, John McClain is now collecting on proceeds from the sales of music titles along with the other executor of the Michael Jackson Estate, John Branca and both are taking a salary for managing what they're taking from the Estate.

Barry Siegel signed a document on August 26, 2003 declining to be named as a co-trustee of the Michael Jackson Family Trust and as a co-executor of the last will of Michael Joseph Jackson. However, even looking at the signatures on the two documents it seems even Barry's signature is different on the two documents.  This leaves one signature by Trudy Green, not two, making this will invalid according to California Probate Code 6110, For the record Barry Siegel is and was a CPA managing money for Michael Jackson at one time. His firm "Provident Financial Management" would stand to gain should he have remained on the will in question as well. He was "managing" funds for the "This is It" tour and was involved in the accounting for the Estate as evidenced in the AEG vs Katherine Jackson court records.

Here is the letter from Barry Siegel declining his co-executor ship of the last will of Michael Joseph Jackson: Note the signatures.






This letter addressed to Michael's CPA at the time, Jeff Cannon, on March 25, 2009, came just after Michael's letter to Randy Phillips of AEG that Tohme Tohme was no longer his representative. Here the letter is apparently asking on this same day to "transfer" ALL records to none other than Barry Siegel:


John Branca's firm drafted the will and states that it was signed in Los Angeles CA on the 7th of July. The other problem is that Michael Jackson was in New York City that day and from the looks of what he was speaking about I don't think he was interested in doing business with Sony or Branca any longer.  As of February, 2003 Branca was terminated http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/secret-report-got-branca-fired-22850/

Here's the evidence related to Michael Jackson's where a bouts on July 7, 2002:





Finally, in assessing whether the will had testamentary intent, did the court even ask when Michael Jackson signed the will if the witnessing signatures were in his presence?  Were they ALL indeed in Los Angeles or were they ALL in New York City? And, if they ALL were in New York, why does the will state Los Angeles?  And if ALL of them were in Los Angeles, then obviously the signatures were not witnessed in the presence of Michael Jackson and therefore the will is still INVALID.


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