Michael Jackson Bankrolls Mama Big-Time

Newly unsealed court records show matriarch is receiving more than $86,000 per month to provide necessities for the appointed guardian and her three grandkids

It pays to be Katherine Jackson. Five figures a month, as it turns out.

Court documents filed in connection to Michael Jackson's estate unsealed today show that the King of Pop's mother, and the guardian of his three children, is pocketing a cool $86,204 a month to support her and the kids.

Broken down, $60,000 of the payment has been parsed out specifically for Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket, while the remaining $26,804 is the Jackson matriarch's allowance.

Katherine's portion of the monthly stipend is paying for an assistant, housekeeper, driver, clothing, grooming (it's not the haircuts that add up, it's the trips to Vegas), phone and Internet expenses, insurance costs and various other expenses.

It's unclear how the kids' share of the cash infusion is being spent, though annually, $160,000 will be set aside for entertainment and related expenses, $250,000 for personal needs and roughly $315,000 on hired hands to help care for the minors.

The singer's estate is responsible for ponying up the substantial sum, which Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff signed off on last month. Until today, the exact monthly figure had been kept confidential. The sums have been paid retroactively to Jackson's date of death.

Also addressed at a hearing today was a deal between Sony Music and Jackson's estate regarding the soundtrack to This Is It, the upcoming film featuring the rehearsal footage Sony dropped $60 million on for sole distribution rights.

Presumably, the estate administrators want to ensure a nice cut of the proceeds from sales of the feature motion picture soundtrack.

A comparably minor matter has also been put to rest: Jackson's camp has agreed to pay $12,500 as part of a $150,000 settlement to end a federal lawsuit brought in Illinois against the artist and 11 others.

Songwriter Syl Johnson claimed that Jackson and his fellow defendants had illegally reproduced one of his tunes.

As with everything else, a probate judge has to sign off on that $12,500 before it's a go.

(Originally published Sept. 17, 2009, at 1:22 p.m. PT)