Jackson, Celebrity Justice : Katherine's New Lawyer to Estat

[everlastinglove_MJ]

Jackson, Celebrity Justice : Katherine's New Lawyer to Estate: Let's Be Fair


Katherine's New Lawyer to Estate: Let's Be Fair
4/15/2011 11:00 AM PDT by TMZ Staff  



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Katherine Jackson has just hired a lawyer to repair the damaged relationship with the Michael Jackson Estate ...trying to unlock some of the money the Estate is raking in and give it to MJ's mom.


Katherine hired Perry Sanders, a big time litigator who, among other things, was pivotal in securing the publishing rights for the proper owners against Master P and the No Limit Records catalog.

Sanders tells TMZ ... he wants to work with MJ Estate lawyer Howard Weitzman to see if they can reach some sort of common ground.

As TMZ first reported, the Estate is already paying Katherine $26,000 a month.  In addition, the Estate has paid off the mortgage to the Jackson family home, bought her a car, hired a cook and paid for various vacations and other expenses.

Katherine and her people feel they haven't gotten enough dough, given that the Estate has made hundreds of millions of bucks since Michael's death.

For his part, Weitzman tells TMZ, "If Mr. Sanders is in fact Mrs. Jackson's new lawyer, I will be glad to talk to him."

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[everlastinglove_MJ]

Jackson, Celebrity Justice : Katherine's New Lawyer to Estate: Let's Be Fair


Katherine's New Lawyer to Estate: Let's Be Fair
4/15/2011 11:00 AM PDT by TMZ Staff  



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Katherine Jackson has just hired a lawyer to repair the damaged relationship with the Michael Jackson Estate ...trying to unlock some of the money the Estate is raking in and give it to MJ's mom.


Katherine hired Perry Sanders, a big time litigator who, among other things, was pivotal in securing the publishing rights for the proper owners against Master P and the No Limit Records catalog.

Sanders tells TMZ ... he wants to work with MJ Estate lawyer Howard Weitzman to see if they can reach some sort of common ground.

As TMZ first reported, the Estate is already paying Katherine $26,000 a month.  In addition, the Estate has paid off the mortgage to the Jackson family home, bought her a car, hired a cook and paid for various vacations and other expenses.

Katherine and her people feel they haven't gotten enough dough, given that the Estate has made hundreds of millions of bucks since Michael's death.

For his part, Weitzman tells TMZ, "If Mr. Sanders is in fact Mrs. Jackson's new lawyer, I will be glad to talk to him."

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Oops.. it's already been posted, sorry, obviously I missed it (sleepy head :mrgreen: )

[hesouttamylife]

I agree with Katherine.  With all the money the estate has earned, and the salaries the executors are honing for themselves, $26,000 is not enough.  I 100% agree and it pisses me off.  She’s got 3 children she is responsible for.  for them to continue to live in their normal lifestyle, that just ain’t enough.  I would be mad as hell :evil:   It’s not about accumulating “wealth” and “things” for the estate to say “we have”.  It’s just as much about ensuring that Michael’s dependents don’t have to worry.  In 2 years, Katherine’s allotment should have definitely increased.  And it doesn’t matter what she does with the money.  Michael was hers.  His children and his mother should not be issued out the kind of allotment a mediocre movie star might have left as an inheritance to his wife.  There are 4 people with expenses living in L.A.  That’s not enough.

[everlastinglove_MJ]

I agree with Katherine.  With all the money the estate has earned, and the salaries the executors are honing for themselves, $26,000 is not enough.  I 100% agree and it pisses me off.  She’s got 3 children she is responsible for.  for them to continue to live in their normal lifestyle, that just ain’t enough.  I would be mad as hell :evil:   It’s not about accumulating “wealth” and “things” for the estate to say “we have”.  It’s just as much about ensuring that Michael’s dependents don’t have to worry.  In 2 years, Katherine’s allotment should have definitely increased.  And it doesn’t matter what she does with the money.  Michael was hers.  His children and his mother should not be issued out the kind of allotment a mediocre movie star might have left as an inheritance to his wife.  There are 4 people with expenses living in L.A.  That’s not enough.

I agree.

In addition, the Estate has paid off the mortgage to the Jackson family home, bought her a car, hired a cook and paid for various vacations and other expenses.

Now, how I explain this is that the Estate is claiming that it is very generous of them to pay off the mortgage, buy a car, hire a cook and paid vacations etc. I think it's pretty arrogant to claim that this is generous. It's just a fraction of the huge amount of money the Estate has earned. Besides, it is admirable that Katherine at her respectable age is taking care of 3 children. A car and a cook are efficient and absolutely necessary in her position.

[pepper]

Perry Sanders - You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

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The Unsolved Mystery of the Notorious B.I.G
The murder, the cover-up and the conspiracy

"Those who arrived as spectators at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on July 6th expecting to observe the fourth day of testimony in the Notorious B.I.G. wrongful-death suit swiftly discovered that they were on hand to bear witness to something else: history. In an announcement that stunned everyone who had been following the case in the media, presiding judge Florence-Marie Cooper abruptly suspended the proceedings and called a mistrial. Only a handful in the courtroom knew of the remarkable events of the previous days: an anonymous late-night phone tip; the extraordinary lockdown of a Los Angeles Police Department division; a stash of secret, incriminating documents. But the following day, Judge Cooper issued a written ruling stating that she had come to believe the LAPD had deliberately concealed a massive amount of evidence that attested to the involvement of rogue officers in the rapper's slaying.

The implications of the judge's decision extended far beyond the mystery of B.I.G.'s unsolved murder. For months, Los Angeles' most prominent political figures and police officials, along with the city's most influential media, had been insisting that this legal claim by B.I.G.'s family was nothing more than a nuisance suit, based on an outlandish conspiracy theory that attempted to tie a group of LAPD officers -- affiliated with Suge Knight's Death Row Records and the Bloods gang -- to not only the murders of B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, but also to the origins of the biggest police-corruption case in Los Angeles history, the so-called Rampart scandal. Yet here was one of the most respected district court judges in Southern California declaring in open court that the LAPD's lead investigator on the B.I.G. murder case for the past six years had deliberately concealed hundreds of pages of documents. The contents of these pages not only supported the conspiracy theory, but also implicated the central figure in the Rampart scandal -- the disgraced detective who was the source of the whole sorry, sordid affair -- as one of those involved in the rapper's death.

The judge's declaration of a mistrial provided one of those breathtaking moments when the facade of a Big Lie is peeled back to reveal the men behind the curtain. Suddenly, the central figures in this scandal were not the collection of corrupt police officers whose double-faced criminality has been the focus of both public and private investigations, but rather the people who hold the levers of control at the city's most powerful institutions.

Back in 2000, it looked as if all the skeletons rattling around the Rampart scandal had been locked away in deep closets. But in the spring of 2001, theories that had been discarded by both the police and the L.A. media were explored by articles in Rolling Stone and The New Yorker . Perry Sanders, the iconoclastic lawyer who would spearhead the wrongful-death lawsuit, first became involved in the case in June of that year. An attorney for murdered rap star Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Christopher Wallace, asked Sanders to read the Rolling Stone article. "I thought there were grounds for filing a lawsuit just based on reading the story," says Sanders. Because he takes cases only on contingency, however, the attorney had to decide whether he could justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and several years of his life to sustain a federal court claim against the city of Los Angeles.

Angular and fit, the fifty-one-year old Sanders is a mercurial Louisianan whose shaved head and pale eyes give him the look of a more intelligent Bruce Willis. The son of Perry R. Sanders Sr., one of the South's best-known Baptist ministers, the attorney had devoted much of his young adulthood to the music business; he performed as a guitarist and vocalist all across the Southern club circuit during his years in college and law school. By the time he passed the bar in 1982, Sanders co-owned the Baton Rouge recording studio Disk Productions, where he and two partners composed and recorded jingles for companies including Hilton and Honda. Within a few years, Sanders moved on to Nashville, working in entertainment law by day and as a writer and producer at night, then to L.A., where he was a partner in the studio West Side Sound. Eventually, he returned to Louisiana and the practice of law, specializing in environmental and civil-rights cases. He made enough money by his mid-forties that he could devote his considerable energies to whatever interested him.

"The B.I.G. case interested me plenty," Sanders says, but he and his sometime associate, Colorado attorney Rob Frank, were at that moment embroiled in a massive environmental suit against the Schlage Lock Company. Not sure if he could afford what the B.I.G. lawsuit would demand, Sanders dispatched Frank to meet with the murdered rapper's mother, Voletta Wallace, in New York. "After meeting with Voletta," Frank recalls, "I reported back to Perry that we may or may not have a great case, but we certainly had a great client." (continued at above link)

_______________________

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"Stop the Hypocrisy"

Mission Statement
To make your world a safer and freer place to live by overhauling the criminal justice system.

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[everlastinglove_MJ]

Perry Sanders - You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

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The Unsolved Mystery of the Notorious B.I.G
The murder, the cover-up and the conspiracy

"Those who arrived as spectators at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on July 6th expecting to observe the fourth day of testimony in the Notorious B.I.G. wrongful-death suit swiftly discovered that they were on hand to bear witness to something else: history. In an announcement that stunned everyone who had been following the case in the media, presiding judge Florence-Marie Cooper abruptly suspended the proceedings and called a mistrial. Only a handful in the courtroom knew of the remarkable events of the previous days: an anonymous late-night phone tip; the extraordinary lockdown of a Los Angeles Police Department division; a stash of secret, incriminating documents. But the following day, Judge Cooper issued a written ruling stating that she had come to believe the LAPD had deliberately concealed a massive amount of evidence that attested to the involvement of rogue officers in the rapper's slaying.

The implications of the judge's decision extended far beyond the mystery of B.I.G.'s unsolved murder. For months, Los Angeles' most prominent political figures and police officials, along with the city's most influential media, had been insisting that this legal claim by B.I.G.'s family was nothing more than a nuisance suit, based on an outlandish conspiracy theory that attempted to tie a group of LAPD officers -- affiliated with Suge Knight's Death Row Records and the Bloods gang -- to not only the murders of B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, but also to the origins of the biggest police-corruption case in Los Angeles history, the so-called Rampart scandal. Yet here was one of the most respected district court judges in Southern California declaring in open court that the LAPD's lead investigator on the B.I.G. murder case for the past six years had deliberately concealed hundreds of pages of documents. The contents of these pages not only supported the conspiracy theory, but also implicated the central figure in the Rampart scandal -- the disgraced detective who was the source of the whole sorry, sordid affair -- as one of those involved in the rapper's death.

The judge's declaration of a mistrial provided one of those breathtaking moments when the facade of a Big Lie is peeled back to reveal the men behind the curtain. Suddenly, the central figures in this scandal were not the collection of corrupt police officers whose double-faced criminality has been the focus of both public and private investigations, but rather the people who hold the levers of control at the city's most powerful institutions.

Back in 2000, it looked as if all the skeletons rattling around the Rampart scandal had been locked away in deep closets. But in the spring of 2001, theories that had been discarded by both the police and the L.A. media were explored by articles in Rolling Stone and The New Yorker . Perry Sanders, the iconoclastic lawyer who would spearhead the wrongful-death lawsuit, first became involved in the case in June of that year. An attorney for murdered rap star Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Christopher Wallace, asked Sanders to read the Rolling Stone article. "I thought there were grounds for filing a lawsuit just based on reading the story," says Sanders. Because he takes cases only on contingency, however, the attorney had to decide whether he could justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and several years of his life to sustain a federal court claim against the city of Los Angeles.

Angular and fit, the fifty-one-year old Sanders is a mercurial Louisianan whose shaved head and pale eyes give him the look of a more intelligent Bruce Willis. The son of Perry R. Sanders Sr., one of the South's best-known Baptist ministers, the attorney had devoted much of his young adulthood to the music business; he performed as a guitarist and vocalist all across the Southern club circuit during his years in college and law school. By the time he passed the bar in 1982, Sanders co-owned the Baton Rouge recording studio Disk Productions, where he and two partners composed and recorded jingles for companies including Hilton and Honda. Within a few years, Sanders moved on to Nashville, working in entertainment law by day and as a writer and producer at night, then to L.A., where he was a partner in the studio West Side Sound. Eventually, he returned to Louisiana and the practice of law, specializing in environmental and civil-rights cases. He made enough money by his mid-forties that he could devote his considerable energies to whatever interested him.

"The B.I.G. case interested me plenty," Sanders says, but he and his sometime associate, Colorado attorney Rob Frank, were at that moment embroiled in a massive environmental suit against the Schlage Lock Company. Not sure if he could afford what the B.I.G. lawsuit would demand, Sanders dispatched Frank to meet with the murdered rapper's mother, Voletta Wallace, in New York. "After meeting with Voletta," Frank recalls, "I reported back to Perry that we may or may not have a great case, but we certainly had a great client." (continued at above link)

_______________________

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"Stop the Hypocrisy"

Mission Statement
To make your world a safer and freer place to live by overhauling the criminal justice system.

Read more at this link - You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Thanks Pepper. Apparently, Katherine didn't choose just a lawyer (which was to be expected). Perry Sanders is familiar with the entertainment and music business.

He made enough money by his mid-forties that he could devote his considerable energies to whatever interested him.

I suppose that this lawyer also chose MJ, because it interests him and it seems that money won't be his main motivation.

[bec]

Angular and fit, the fifty-one-year old Sanders is a mercurial Louisianan whose shaved head and pale eyes give him the look of a more intelligent Bruce Willis.

How incredibly rude. Wtf kind of person writes this garbage?

[paula-c]

As TMZ first reported, the Estate is already paying Katherine $26,000 a month. In addition, the Estate has paid off the mortgage to the Jackson family home, bought her a car, hired a cook and paid for various vacations and other expenses.

Katherine and her people feel they haven't gotten enough dough, given that the Estate has made hundreds of millions of bucks since Michael's death.

What happens with all the money that the estate earn, who guard the destiny of every dollar earned.? will be true that the testament is false? :?

[PeaceLoveHappiness]

I think the estate has been generous to Katherine.  They paid off the home (and they probably also cover the annual property taxes, and are most likely paying for all of the renovations), bought her a car, AND the estate covers all of the expenses for the kids anyway.  The problem is that Katherine/Michael are having to support all of the other kids who are still living at Havenhurst.  I also think that Katherine still helps out some of her own kids too.  If she didn't have to pay for these other family member's needs, $26,000 would be plenty for her and the J3.  Again, remember that the estate is also covering all of the expenses for the kids, so Katherine doesn't have to worry about putting any of her monthly allowance towards them.

[hesouttamylife]

I wouldn’t go so far to even suggest they have been generous.  It’s Michael’s money, not theirs.  You never heard Katherine mumble a disgruntled thought before 6/25/09 regarding money.  Michael took care of that.  $26,000 for that mansion’s expenses is not enough, especially with all it (the estate) has earned.  The executors get a percentage which means they win big time and get more as the estate funds grow.  They should follow suit with the Matriarch and guardian of Michael’s children.  Caring for 3 additional people, no matter who they are, is hard.  At 80 plus, I can imagine it’s even harder. who do they think they are?  Katherine is not a charity.

[everlastinglove_MJ]

Michael Jackson's mom, estate, clash over charity
Published: Friday, 15 Apr 2011 | 3:25 PM ET Text Size

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LOS ANGELES - "Heal the world. Make it a better place for you and for me." So sang Michael Jackson in his mega-selling 1992 anthem for change.

Now the singer's estate and Jackson's mother could use a little healing themselves as they fight each other over the non-profit Heal the World Foundation, which claims it's the successor to the pop star's defunct charity inspired by the song. At stake in the skirmish are trademarks worth millions of dollars and a piece of Jackson's legacy.

The dispute, which is playing out in a federal court in Los Angeles, is the latest example of the sometimes strained relationship between Jackson's family and the estate he left in place that has already earned hundreds of millions of dollars.

But the fight against the new incarnation of the Heal the World Foundation has also raised questions about which causes the singer would want to focus on if he hadn't abandoned his charity to fight off allegations of child sexual abuse.

His mother, Katherine Jackson, left little doubt about where her sentiments lie in a recent court filing: "It is not my desire, nor would it be the desire of my son Michael, to continue this lawsuit against Heal the World Foundation."

Last year, Jackson's mother and father joined Heal the World's board of directors and elected to have their three children added to a youth board. Jackson's mother and his children were prominently featured on a recent "Good Morning America" story that also included footage of Heal the World giving a $10,000 donation to a shelter in Los Angeles.

It was a high-profile plug for an entity that according to tax filings reviewed by The Associated Press has done little fundraising or charitable giving, but has fought to stake its claim to several Jackson-related trademarks and likeness rights that the singer's estate maintains it should own.

The estate did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment about how Katherine Jackson's support for Heal the World is impacting the case or the estate.

The foundation's director, Melissa Johnson, claims the pop singer handed her control of Heal the World through intermediaries in 2005, when he was defending himself against child molestation accusations. Despite never having personally met the singer, Johnson's attorneys claim she has the right to manage the charity, use various trademarks and that the permission now comes from the Jackson family itself.

The singer's estate counters that even if Michael Jackson granted Johnson rights to the charity, which it denies, the estate has revoked the permission and Johnson should be barred from using Jackson's name, likeness, and the name Heal the World for any future endeavors. The estate owns Jackson's likeness rights and numerous trademarks and copyrights that have been used to market new products since his June 2009 death.

"People are saying I have been manipulated by Melissa Johnson and that we are exploiting my grandchildren because we joined Heal the World, all while the executors convince people they are only doing what Michael wanted or what is in my best interests by suing everyone who help (sic) us," states Katherine Jackson's declaration, which was offered as sworn testimony in the case. "Please do not believe them. It's not true."

Complicating Katherine Jackson's involvement with the foundation is her business relationship with Howard Mann, a businessman who obtained some of Jackson's recordings years ago. Mann, who is paying to defend Heal the World in court, is also being sued by the estate in a separate lawsuit that accuses him of infringing on estate copyrights.

The singer's estate, which has paid millions in the nearly two years since the pop singer's death to support Katherine Jackson and her grandchildren, claims the organization is trying to supplant the trademarks and has no legitimate affiliation with the singer.

The estate won a preliminary injunction in April 2010, barring Heal the World Foundation from using Michael Jackson's name, likeness and trademarks on its website, but in recent weeks several of the pop singer's former confidantes and his mother have cast their support with Johnson.

The lawsuit has reignited division between Jackson's family and the overseers of his estate, namely co-executor John Branca. Branca was Jackson's longtime attorney, but did not work with him for several years until being re-hired shortly before the singer's death.

Since Mann's involvement in the Heal the World lawsuit, several former figures from Jackson's sphere signed statements saying they were aware Michael Jackson had given Johnson authority to run his charity. Among those expected to testify are attorney Brian Oxman, who was fired from Jackson's criminal defense team and now represents Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson, and the singer's former manager and spokeswoman Raymone Bain. Bain sued Jackson before his death for $44 million dollars, claiming she was cut out of her share of the deal for the singer's planned series of comeback concerts titled "This Is It."

In written testimony, Bain stated she became aware of Johnson's actions in 2006 and that Michael Jackson told her that he had handed her the reigns of the foundation in 2005. Oxman claims Jackson told him to confer rights to the foundation to Johnson in 2005, but estate attorneys have cast doubt on the statement and say Oxman's name was never mentioned in years of correspondence from Johnson to Jackson's attorneys and representatives.

Johnson's attorney, Edgar Pease III, admits that there is no formal written agreement between Michael Jackson and Johnson regarding Heal the World. But he says the involvement of Jackson's mother and three children, who are entitled to 80 percent of the estate's earnings, means the foundation should have some legitimacy.

"The estate is suing their left foot," Pease said. "They're suing themselves."

He said Johnson's aim in applying for various trademarks was to preserve them for the charity and protect them from others. Tax records show in recent years, Johnson has not received a salary for her work on Heal the World Foundation, and in court filings claims she has spent tens of thousands of her own money to develop it.

Since Jackson's June 2009 death, there at times has been an uneasy relationship between the Jackson family and the estate. Michael Jackson's 2002 will calls for his mother and three children to receive 80 percent of his estate, with the final 20 percent designated for an unnamed charity.

Katherine Jackson had sought to challenge Branca and co-administrator John McClain's authority to run the estate in 2009, but dropped the bid.

In the meantime the estate has worked to repair major financial damage incurred by Michael Jackson during his lifetime. The "Thriller" singer died more than $400 million in debt, but in the first 17 months after his death earned more than $310 million, court records show.

More than $9 million has been paid to and for Katherine Jackson and her son's children. Nearly $4 million of that paid off the family's longtime home in the San Fernando Valley, with portions of the rest paying for security, staff and other expenses for the family.

For its part, the new incarnation of Heal the World Foundation spending has far outpaced its donations. Tax records for the nonprofit show that in 2009, the last year available, Heal the World, spent more than $76,000 in trademark and advertising fees. It handed out roughly $5,000 in donations.

In court filings, Johnson states she registered 1,800 website domain names and dozens of trademarks, which Pease said would give the foundation the basis it needs to fulfill Johnson's vision for the charity.

Pease claims Johnson came up with the idea for a Cirque-du-Soleil-style show featuring Jackson's work, as well as a telethon, television show, board game and other merchandise that would elevate Heal the World to a major charitable organization.

Jackson's estate is hoping next week's trial before U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee will end Johnson's efforts.

"The ultimate fact critical to this litigation remains, after over a year and a half of litigation, unchanged," the estate's attorney's wrote in a trial brief. "Defendants have infringed and will continue to infringe on (the estate's) intellectual property and Mr. Jackson's name, image and likeness to the fullest extent they are able to do so."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press
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FYI

[voiceforthesilent]

I agree with Katherine.  With all the money the estate has earned, and the salaries the executors are honing for themselves, $26,000 is not enough.  I 100% agree and it pisses me off.  She’s got 3 children she is responsible for.  for them to continue to live in their normal lifestyle, that just ain’t enough.  I would be mad as hell :evil:   It’s not about accumulating “wealth” and “things” for the estate to say “we have”.  It’s just as much about ensuring that Michael’s dependents don’t have to worry.  In 2 years, Katherine’s allotment should have definitely increased.  And it doesn’t matter what she does with the money.  Michael was hers.  His children and his mother should not be issued out the kind of allotment a mediocre movie star might have left as an inheritance to his wife.  There are 4 people with expenses living in L.A.  That’s not enough.

This is true but this is only the money that Katherine is getting. It's not the money the children are getting - I believe that's around $60,000 per month if I'm not mistaken. Also, Katherine doesn't have to pay the rent with that money...the house has been paid off. In addition they are paying for that mansion they are staying in while the renovations at Encino are being done - which the Estate is paying for as well.

I'm sorry but to me I don't believe Katherine is getting the short end of the stick. I believe the Executors are looking out for the future of the children, not the immediate spending habits of the family. I don't mean to step on toes here but if Katherine can't live on $26,000 per month for her basic needs there is a problem. Again, that's just for Katherine. The children are getting more. Just my opinion.

[PureLove]

I still think there's something fishy with the estate.

[hesouttamylife]

and I still think that Katherine is intelligent enough to know how much money she is getting on a monthly basis no matter what the Estate reports.

[voiceforthesilent]

and I still think that Katherine is intelligent enough to know how much money she is getting on a monthly basis no matter what the Estate reports.

True - but we aren't getting the whole story either. We're getting this from the tabloids and I'm sure there are parts missing. If something is up with the Estate (i.e. Branca and company) then I believe that it's in Michael's overall plan. On the other hand, from what we've seen the Estate has done a great job pulling the Encino home back from the brink. Remember that we were told the Encino home was going to be foreclosed on the 26th of June, 2009 (still don't know how banks would stop proceedings because of Michael's "death"). Now, in less than 2 years they've managed to pay off the Encino home and make extensive renovations. That is probably a million dollar project alone.

Either way we should wait and see (as Prince says). Wait and see - he may know something none of us know...