Michael Jackson's Estate Co-Executor Dies with $20M and No Will

Here’s an irony that writes itself: John McClain, the man who helped navigate Michael Jackson’s estate through some of the most contentious legal battles in entertainment history, left behind a $20 million fortune with no will of his own.

McClain, who served as co-executor of Michael Jackson’s estate, died last month following complications from a fall at his Malibu home. He was 71 years old. He’d been hospitalized at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center after the fall left him with a broken arm, but ultimately couldn’t overcome the injuries. Now, his own estate is in probate limbo—no roadmap, no instructions, just a considerable pile of assets waiting for someone to sort it out.

Enter Warner Wright IV, McClain’s first cousin once removed (though raised as his nephew), who filed paperwork this week asking that he and Zia F. Modabber, McClain’s lawyer, be named administrators of the estate. Wright is pushing for expedited approval, citing urgent business matters that can’t wait: a lease payment on a Malibu property is due, there are bills to pay, maintenance issues to handle, creative projects to preserve. In other words, the machinery of a $20,033,862 estate doesn’t stop just because there’s no will.

The timing here is genuinely loaded. McClain spent years embroiled in battles over Michael Jackson’s will following the King of Pop’s death—disputes over validity, intent, who had the right to manage one of the most valuable estates in music. You’d think watching that legal circus unfold might have inspired him to draft his own plan. But sometimes the people closest to complicated situations are the last ones ready to face their own.

This is strictly about McClain’s personal estate, not Michael’s—that’s a separate and still-evolving story. But it’s a hard-to-ignore reminder that even the people managing massive legacies can overlook their own. Without a will, his $20 million is now subject to California intestacy laws, which means the state gets a say in where it goes. Whatever his intentions were, they’re locked away now.