The world is still processing the death of musical icon Prince, as he was laid to rest at the mere age of 57 just two days after his passing on last Thursday, April 16th. While the rest of the world is still reeling, Prince’s estate is about to go through the arduous task of allocating his assets to their rightful owners as his sister, Tyka Nelson, has revealed the singer did not have a last will and testament at the time of his death.
Although it was initially reported that Prince had amassed $300 million dollar fortune at the time of his death, this figure is definitely bound to change, being that he bought his catalogue of music prior to his death. His songs are also exploding on the iTunes charts, and he had over 1,000 unpublished songs that he had not shared with the public. Hence, why on Tuesday Tyka filed court documents to open a probate case in Minnesota Carver County, where her brother’s Paisley Park estate is located.
According to the documents filed, Nelson states, "I do not know of the existence of a will and have no reason to believe that the Decedent executed testamentary documents in any form." With no will in existence, Prince’s monies will now be disbursed between his siblings, as he had no children or legal spouse at the time of his death. Prince reportedly has six siblings, but Tyka is his only full sibling. The singer’s living half-siblings, John Nelson, Norrine Nelson, Sharon Nelson, Alfred Jackson and Omar Baker are also listed in the court petition, and would ultimately have control of the deceased singer’s brand and label should they be deemed the rightful owners to his fortune.
However, despite their not being a physical will that has materialized of yet, there’s still a chance that Prince could have drafted a trust for his estate, which could put the caput on his sister’s entire argument. We will have to stay tuned to see how this story develops.
Source: money.cnn.com
