Jackson Family

Michael Jackson's estate has made a fortune since the singer's death -- so much in fact ... it's nearly paid off $500 million in debt the King of Pop left behind when he died.

Executors for the Estate filed legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- which show the Estate has generated gross earnings exceeding $475 million as of the end of May.

According to the docs, all of MJ's debts have been paid, with the exception of a BIG debt involving Michael's publishing catalog ... and executors expect that will be fully paid off by the end of the year.

It's not only good news for the Estate ... it's great news for the small army of lawyers who have been handling all the legal and business affairs. Their fees -- from May, 2010 through November, 2011 -- exceeded $13.6 MILLION!

Two other things ... Katherine is asking for an additional $34,700 a month to pay for lawyers and accountants, and another $205,041 to cover lawyer and accountant fees from 2011.

Final thing --There are still some unresolved creditors' claims and several lawsuits to clear up.

An emotional Randy Jackson commemorated the three year anniversary of the death of his younger brother Michael Jackson by visiting Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles on Monday.

Randy paid his respects and also posed for pics with MJ fans -- including a King of Pop impersonator -- who had come to Michael's final resting place.

As we previously reported, a group of MJ fans raised roughly $30K to decorate Jackson's tomb with 10,000 roses to honor the fallen pop superstar.

Today marks the 3-year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson -- an event that had an impact across the globe.

Tons of lives have been changed since that fateful day ... Conrad Murray went to jail ... MJ's kids have moved in with their grandmother ... numerous doctors have been exposed for sucking up to celebrities and giving them pills they shouldn't have ... and Corey Feldman got another 15 minutes of fame.

Of course, the world mourned together during MJ's memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles ... when his daughter Paris choked back tears and said how much she loved her father ... and when Jermaine performed his touching rendition of "Smile."

Michael was eventually laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.

Paris Jackson says she is going through the things every teenager goes through ... which unfortunately these days includes being the victim of bullying.

Michael Jackson's only daughter sat down with Oprah Winfrey for an interview on tonight's episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter." Paris is no longer being home-schooled and she says the girls at her new private school have tried to bully her ... but she says, "It doesn't work."

Paris also says she (much like her father) is very wary of people trying to use her. She told O, "If I feel someone is being fake to me, I will just push away."

Michael Jackson owes a convicted criminal $1 BILLION for exploiting personal details about her life in his music -- this according to a bizarre and, dare we say, bogus lawsuit.

Kimberly Griggs filed the case in San Diego -- claiming she and Jackson had an intimate relationship beginning in 1979, which she says he chronicled in his albums "Off the Wall," "Thriller," "Bad," "Dangerous," and his greatest hits album ... "Number Ones."

Griggs -- who spent years in prison for burglary and robbery -- claims she was pissed that Michael exposed her personal secrets in his tunes, so to make things nice he promised to give her the rights to the songs.

She says she was stunned when MJ died and she was completely left out of his estate.

According to the handwritten lawsuit, Griggs wants $1 billion in damages.

The Jacksons don't want to put the cart before the horse, so the group has cancelled their first two concerts because they've been busy recording their new album ... TMZ has learned.

The group announced this week they are canceling shows in Louisville and Cincinnati, which a rep for the band chalked up to "scheduling conflicts."

But a source close to the Jacksons tells TMZ the brothers (Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito) want to finish their studio album before they hit the road so they can perform the new tracks on tour.

We're told the Jacksons want to make up the missed dates, but nothing is planned so far.

Michael Jackson's Estate has finally settled its beef with the girl who played MJ's date in the famed "Thriller" video -- three years after she filed her lawsuit.

TMZ broke the story ... Ola Ray sued MJ and his production company in May 2009 -- the month before Jackson died -- claiming she hadn't been paid royalties from the legendary 1983 music video.

The former Playboy Playmate sued for breach of contract, insisting she was still owed a massive chunk of "Thriller" profits.

We don't know how much the Estate settled for -- but from what we can gather, Ola got something.

Michael Jackson NEVER ordered his henchmen to murder his brother Randy Jackson ... despite allegations made by MJ's former bodyguard ... this according to a rep for RJ.

Randy's spokesperson tells TMZ ... the allegations made by Matt Fiddes "couldn't be further from the truth ... it's absolutely absurd."

Fiddes told The Sun ... MJ wanted members of his inner circle to shoot Randy during a heated argument regarding a possible Jackson 5 tour. Fiddes claims Michael was on drugs at the time.

But Randy's rep tells us Fiddes is full of crap ... saying, "There's no way in the world that this actually happened."

Randy's rep says the Jackson family is choosing to ignore Matt, rather than engage him in a legal battle, because "it's a non-issue."

Michael Jackson's former bodyguard claims the singer was a paranoid maniac ... who ordered members of his inner circle to kill his younger brother Randy ... this according to The Sun.

In the interview with The Sun ... ex-bodyguard Matt Fiddes claims, "Michael was caught in a war with his brothers for years, They were desperate to sign him up to a $500 million deal for a Jackson 5 reunion tour."

Fiddes -- a martial arts expert who worked with MJ in the UK and in the US -- explained, "Things reached a head when Randy was trying to force his way past the bodyguards to speak to him in one of his rented homes. Michael ordered him to be shot."

Of course, no one shot Randy ... but Fiddes says, "Randy was so scared he got on the phone and threatened to call the Press. He told the bodyguards, 'If you shoot me the whole world will know about it.'"

Fiddes continued, "[Michael] was out of mind on drugs and luckily Randy was OK."

Fiddes has been dishing MJ dirt to The Sun for a while now ... just last week he claimed the singer despised Madonna and poked holes in a Voodoo doll of Steven Spielberg after MJ became a Nazi sympathizer.

None of Fiddes' accusations have been corroborated.

Michael Jackson's Estate has just made a huge deal with Pepsi -- the company whose 1984 commercial arguably ruined his life, and some say it's a deal with the devil.

You'll recall, MJ's hair famously caught fire during a pyrotechnic mishap while filming the commercial -- causing severe burns on his scalp that led MJ to become a hardcore prescription drug addict ... and that addiction eventually led him to Dr. Conrad Murray.

The MJ Estate feels Pepsi is the right company to join forces with for a couple of reasons. First, Michael himself worked with Pepsi twice after the incident, once in 1988 and again in 1991, so the singer obviously didn't hold a grudge. And a spokesperson for the estate tells us, "We're here to market the re-release of the 'Bad' album and Pepsi is the most effective place to do it."

But lots of people blame the Pepsi shoot for putting MJ on a drug-fueled path of self-destruction -- including one of the singer's former managers Frank Cascio, who said MJ was introduced to Demerol (a heroin-like opioid) following the accident ... to help deal with the pain.

The Jackson/Pepsi promotion will vary country-to-country -- but will include a TV commercial, special edition cans with Jackson's image, and chances to win downloadable remixes of Jackson's songs.

Michael Jackson's Estate is going after Tohme Tohme, MJ's former manager, claiming he fleeced the singer out of millions of dollars.

TMZ has obtained legal docs filed by the Estate, claiming Tohme got Michael to sign agreements that earned him a fortune for doing nothing.

According to the papers, Estate attorney Howard Weitzman claims Tohme got MJ to agree to pay him $35,000 a month plus expenses as a flat fee -- regardless of what work Tohme performed. On top of that, Tohme inked a deal that gave him 15% of any money Michael made.

And there's more ...Tohme introduced Michael to a lender that refinanced Neverland. In return, Tohme got Jackson to pay him $2.4 million -- just for the introduction. And Tohme got MJ to promise him 10% of any profits if the Ranch was sold.

Tohme also got MJ to agree to pay him $100,000 a month for the "This Is It" tour.

Estate lawyers are anticipating a lawsuit by Tohme against the estate for the money he claims he's owed, and the Estate wants to shut him down before a suit is filed.

The Estate is also asking for damages.

Michael Jackson's family is on the hunt for an incredibly valuable piece of rock -- containing the King of Pop's hand and footprints -- but the guy who currently owns it ain't giving it up without a fight.

MJ left the impressions back in 1984 for a Vegas hotel -- which had commissioned the piece for a "Walk of Fame"-type exhibit in front of the property.

The exhibit never materialized, and the concrete slab ended up gathering dust in the hotel basement -- until it was auctioned off years later ... and a guy named Andy Wilson picked it up for a pretty penny.

Now, the Jackson family has caught wind of the relic -- and they want to reclaim it, insisting the slab is the rightful property of the MJ estate. We're told they're even willing to pay Mr. Wilson $25,000 plus a cut of any merchandising profits they make off the item.

The Jackson family has officially returned to America ... impressive, considering their travel agents CANCELLED their return tickets from the U.K. at the last minute because they hadn't been paid.

TMZ has confirmed ... Tito Jackson's sons, TJ and Taryll, who performed at the MJ Tribute show with their group 3T ... returned to the U.S. yesterday after a bitter stand-off with their travel agents.

We broke the story ... Entertainment Travel claims they warned the company behind the MJ Tribute show about a $200k debt ... and eventually cancelled the flights claiming they still haven't been paid.

Sources close to the Jacksons tell TMZ ... the family found another agency ... who agreed to take on their business and booked them on new flights home. It's unclear who agreed to foot the bill for the new tix.

As we previously reported, Entertainment Travel has vowed to sue the crap out of Global Live if they don't pay up soon.

TMZ has learned ... several members from the Jackson family are going to have to find their own way home from Wales -- because the company that was supposed to provide them with a flight back has pulled their tickets ... because of a HUGE outstanding bill.

As TMZ first reported, Entertainment Travel Company claims that Global Live (the company behind the Michael Jackson tribute concert last week) owes $200,000 for plane tickets the company booked for the Jackson family, Christina Aguilera, her crew, Jamie Foxx, Heavy D, roughly 15 Global Live employees and others.

Now a rep for Entertainment Travel Company tells us they had no choice but to yank the tickets which were earmarked for two members of the band 3T (TJ and Taryll) and two of their children ... because of the unpaid tab.

The company rep says they held out for as long as they could and the next step is to contact a lawyer.

The bills are starting to roll in for the Michael Jackson Tribute Concert in Wales last weekend -- and TMZ has learned, the organizers have already been accused of ducking a $200,000 tab ... for VIP plane tickets.

A rep for the Entertainment Travel Company tells TMZ, Global Live -- the company behind the event -- hired Entertainment Travel to book plane tickets for the Jackson family, Christina Aguilera, her crew, Jamie Foxx, Heavy D, roughly 15 Global Live employees and others.

GL allegedly racked up a $200,000 bill in the process -- which they were SUPPOSED to pay two weeks ago. But Entertainment Travel Co. insists they haven't gotten a cent ... and now GL isn't even returning their phone calls.

Several members of the Jackson family are scheduled to fly back to the U.S. this Sunday -- but Entertainment Travel is getting ready to play hardball ... telling TMZ, they're gonna cancel the Jacksons' tickets if GL doesn't pay up. The next step is a big, fat lawsuit.

A huge development in the Michael Jackson Estate case. The Executors have done so well making money for the Estate since Jackson died, they want to fund the Michael Jackson Trust to the tune of $30 million for the benefit of Katherine Jackson and Michael's 3 kids.

TMZ has obtained court documents in which co-Executors John Branca and John McClain are asking the court's permission to fund the trust. According to the docs, the Estate generated more than $310 million in gross revenues as of December 31, 2010 -- that's the latest accounting.

In addition to funding the trust, the Executors are asking the court's permission to sell the longtime family home on Hayvenhurst Avenue in Encino, CA. According to the docs, Katherine wants to sell the house and, although no price is mentioned, the property was valued at $4,150,000 when Michael died.

The docs say Katherine wants the Estate to purchase another home and she's eying several properties, but we're told the home she really wants is the Calabasas house in which she and the kids are currently living.