Oh, dear. Brown passed away on Christmas Day in 2006, but unfortunately the legal struggles regarding his will are STILL being contested by his family.
This month, a judge will review legal documents about why each party says James Brown's "marriage" to his female companion Tomi Rae Hynie was valid or not. Hynie, is also contesting the will to fight for a share of Brown's estate, even though she was not mentioned in the will. The judge’s decision will affect whether or not Hynie will take any ownership of the estate, including Brown’s music.
In this will (which was made in 2000), Brown split his money (worth tens of millions) and property between the six children he claimed and scholarship charity fund for Georgia students in need, the state where he grew up. The will also sets aside $2 million in scholarships for his seven grandchildren and divided his personal belongings, such as costumes, between those same six children. But unfortunately, none of wishes have been carried out because a few of his adult kids have challenged the will because they want to renovate Brown’s former home into a tourists attraction, much like Elvis’ Graceland.
The will states that any heir who challenged the distribution would be disinherited…but obviously, that didn’t work! In order to rid Brown’s lawyer, accountant, and judge from getting involved with the will, some of his children and grandchildren sued to overturn the document, leaving Brown’s money in the hands of lawyers instead of when it was originally intended for.
And the tragic icing on top of this messy cake: Brown’s body hasn’t even been properly laid to rest! Originally planned to be laid to rest at his home as a memorial site, Brown’s body currently remains in a private temporary resting place.
SMH! Hopefully this will be sorted out soon so the poor man can rest in peace!
Can you believe the dispute over soul legend James Brown’s will is still ongoing?
Brown died in 2006 and his will he divided his property among the six children he recognized and charity. “The bulk of his estate, worth millions of dollars — perhaps tens of millions — was to go to a trust to provide scholarships to needy children here in his native state and in Georgia, where he grew up,” reports The New York Times.
So far nothing has been distributed because some of his children want to turn Brown’s former home into a Graceland-style attraction and have challenged the will. So has a woman he referred to as his wife, though he later contested the legality of their marriage.
So Brown’s estate sits tangled in a legal mess that includes lawsuits and millions paid in to creditors, law firms and various vendors, but not to schoolchildren or other beneficiaries. Even Brown’s body remains in a temporary resting place, not the planned memorial at his home.
When he made his will in 2000, Brown explained on an audio tape how he hoped his scholarship fund would benefit both White and Black children.
The will also set aside $2 million in scholarships for his seven grandchildren and divided his personal property, like costumes and household effects, worth perhaps another $2 million, among the six children he recognized. And any heir who challenged the distribution would be disinherited, the will directed.
But this didn’t stop the challenges, especially from those left out. Many of Brown’s children and grandchildren sued to overturn the will and to remove three longtime associates Brown had appointed as executors of the estate: his accountant, David Cannon; his personal lawyer, Albert H. Dallas; and a former judge, Alfred Bradley. Several children allege that Brown, who had had drug problems, had been influenced by lawyers and managers who stood to profit. Since then, all three executors have resigned. In fact, Cannon left due to allegations that he had misappropriated Brown’s money and was later sentenced in a separate case to three years of house confinement after being charged with breach of trust in his management of Brown’s affairs
By 2008, Henry McMaster, then the South Carolina attorney general, had stepped in. He said that Brown’s charitable initiatives had been endangered by the court challenges filed by his family.
“Under a proposed settlement with the family, he redirected a quarter of the estate’s assets to Brown’s children and grandchildren and a quarter to the singer Tommie Rae Hynie, whom Brown married in 2001 but had left out of the will,” reports the Times.
This all changed when last year the South Carolina Supreme Court threw out the attorney general’s settlement and during the past 18 months, the lower court judge to whom the case was returned, Doyet A. Early III, is still holding hearings into the matter.
Brown’s estate was estimated at $86 million, based on offers that had been made to buy the copyrights to the more than 800 songs Brown wrote or controlled and to the dozens of albums he recorded in his 50-year career. And Brown is still making money–his music generates millions of dollars in royalties for the estate annually.
Can you believe the dispute over soul legend James Brown’s will is still ongoing?
Brown died in 2006 and his will he divided his property among the six children he recognized and charity. “The bulk of his estate, worth millions of dollars — perhaps tens of millions — was to go to a trust to provide scholarships to needy children here in his native state and in Georgia, where he grew up,” reports The New York Times.
So far nothing has been distributed because some of his children want to turn Brown’s former home into a Graceland-style attraction and have challenged the will. So has a woman he referred to as his wife, though he later contested the legality of their marriage.
So Brown’s estate sits tangled in a legal mess that includes lawsuits and millions paid in to creditors, law firms and various vendors, but not to schoolchildren or other beneficiaries. Even Brown’s body remains in a temporary resting place, not the planned memorial at his home.
When he made his will in 2000, Brown explained on an audio tape how he hoped his scholarship fund would benefit both White and Black children.
The will also set aside $2 million in scholarships for his seven grandchildren and divided his personal property, like costumes and household effects, worth perhaps another $2 million, among the six children he recognized. And any heir who challenged the distribution would be disinherited, the will directed.
But this didn’t stop the challenges, especially from those left out. Many of Brown’s children and grandchildren sued to overturn the will and to remove three longtime associates Brown had appointed as executors of the estate: his accountant, David Cannon; his personal lawyer, Albert H. Dallas; and a former judge, Alfred Bradley. Several children allege that Brown, who had had drug problems, had been influenced by lawyers and managers who stood to profit. Since then, all three executors have resigned. In fact, Cannon left due to allegations that he had misappropriated Brown’s money and was later sentenced in a separate case to three years of house confinement after being charged with breach of trust in his management of Brown’s affairs
By 2008, Henry McMaster, then the South Carolina attorney general, had stepped in. He said that Brown’s charitable initiatives had been endangered by the court challenges filed by his family.
“Under a proposed settlement with the family, he redirected a quarter of the estate’s assets to Brown’s children and grandchildren and a quarter to the singer Tommie Rae Hynie, whom Brown married in 2001 but had left out of the will,” reports the Times.
This all changed when last year the South Carolina Supreme Court threw out the attorney general’s settlement and during the past 18 months, the lower court judge to whom the case was returned, Doyet A. Early III, is still holding hearings into the matter.
Brown’s estate was estimated at $86 million, based on offers that had been made to buy the copyrights to the more than 800 songs Brown wrote or controlled and to the dozens of albums he recorded in his 50-year career. And Brown is still making money–his music generates millions of dollars in royalties for the estate annually.
– See more at: http://madamenoire.com/496133/please-please-please-james-browns-will-still-tangled-legal-mess/#sthash.kAOFv0Wx.dpuf
Can you believe the dispute over soul legend James Brown’s will is still ongoing?
Brown died in 2006 and his will he divided his property among the six children he recognized and charity. “The bulk of his estate, worth millions of dollars — perhaps tens of millions — was to go to a trust to provide scholarships to needy children here in his native state and in Georgia, where he grew up,” reports The New York Times.
So far nothing has been distributed because some of his children want to turn Brown’s former home into a Graceland-style attraction and have challenged the will. So has a woman he referred to as his wife, though he later contested the legality of their marriage.
So Brown’s estate sits tangled in a legal mess that includes lawsuits and millions paid in to creditors, law firms and various vendors, but not to schoolchildren or other beneficiaries. Even Brown’s body remains in a temporary resting place, not the planned memorial at his home.
When he made his will in 2000, Brown explained on an audio tape how he hoped his scholarship fund would benefit both White and Black children.
The will also set aside $2 million in scholarships for his seven grandchildren and divided his personal property, like costumes and household effects, worth perhaps another $2 million, among the six children he recognized. And any heir who challenged the distribution would be disinherited, the will directed.
But this didn’t stop the challenges, especially from those left out. Many of Brown’s children and grandchildren sued to overturn the will and to remove three longtime associates Brown had appointed as executors of the estate: his accountant, David Cannon; his personal lawyer, Albert H. Dallas; and a former judge, Alfred Bradley. Several children allege that Brown, who had had drug problems, had been influenced by lawyers and managers who stood to profit. Since then, all three executors have resigned. In fact, Cannon left due to allegations that he had misappropriated Brown’s money and was later sentenced in a separate case to three years of house confinement after being charged with breach of trust in his management of Brown’s affairs
By 2008, Henry McMaster, then the South Carolina attorney general, had stepped in. He said that Brown’s charitable initiatives had been endangered by the court challenges filed by his family.
“Under a proposed settlement with the family, he redirected a quarter of the estate’s assets to Brown’s children and grandchildren and a quarter to the singer Tommie Rae Hynie, whom Brown married in 2001 but had left out of the will,” reports the Times.
This all changed when last year the South Carolina Supreme Court threw out the attorney general’s settlement and during the past 18 months, the lower court judge to whom the case was returned, Doyet A. Early III, is still holding hearings into the matter.
Brown’s estate was estimated at $86 million, based on offers that had been made to buy the copyrights to the more than 800 songs Brown wrote or controlled and to the dozens of albums he recorded in his 50-year career. And Brown is still making money–his music generates millions of dollars in royalties for the estate annually.
– See more at: http://madamenoire.com/496133/please-please-please-james-browns-will-still-tangled-legal-mess/#sthash.kAOFv0Wx.dpuf
Can you believe the dispute over soul legend James Brown’s will is still ongoing?
Brown died in 2006 and his will he divided his property among the six children he recognized and charity. “The bulk of his estate, worth millions of dollars — perhaps tens of millions — was to go to a trust to provide scholarships to needy children here in his native state and in Georgia, where he grew up,” reports The New York Times.
So far nothing has been distributed because some of his children want to turn Brown’s former home into a Graceland-style attraction and have challenged the will. So has a woman he referred to as his wife, though he later contested the legality of their marriage.
So Brown’s estate sits tangled in a legal mess that includes lawsuits and millions paid in to creditors, law firms and various vendors, but not to schoolchildren or other beneficiaries. Even Brown’s body remains in a temporary resting place, not the planned memorial at his home.
When he made his will in 2000, Brown explained on an audio tape how he hoped his scholarship fund would benefit both White and Black children.
The will also set aside $2 million in scholarships for his seven grandchildren and divided his personal property, like costumes and household effects, worth perhaps another $2 million, among the six children he recognized. And any heir who challenged the distribution would be disinherited, the will directed.
But this didn’t stop the challenges, especially from those left out. Many of Brown’s children and grandchildren sued to overturn the will and to remove three longtime associates Brown had appointed as executors of the estate: his accountant, David Cannon; his personal lawyer, Albert H. Dallas; and a former judge, Alfred Bradley. Several children allege that Brown, who had had drug problems, had been influenced by lawyers and managers who stood to profit. Since then, all three executors have resigned. In fact, Cannon left due to allegations that he had misappropriated Brown’s money and was later sentenced in a separate case to three years of house confinement after being charged with breach of trust in his management of Brown’s affairs
By 2008, Henry McMaster, then the South Carolina attorney general, had stepped in. He said that Brown’s charitable initiatives had been endangered by the court challenges filed by his family.
“Under a proposed settlement with the family, he redirected a quarter of the estate’s assets to Brown’s children and grandchildren and a quarter to the singer Tommie Rae Hynie, whom Brown married in 2001 but had left out of the will,” reports the Times.
This all changed when last year the South Carolina Supreme Court threw out the attorney general’s settlement and during the past 18 months, the lower court judge to whom the case was returned, Doyet A. Early III, is still holding hearings into the matter.
Brown’s estate was estimated at $86 million, based on offers that had been made to buy the copyrights to the more than 800 songs Brown wrote or controlled and to the dozens of albums he recorded in his 50-year career. And Brown is still making money–his music generates millions of dollars in royalties for the estate annually.
– See more at: http://madamenoire.com/496133/please-please-please-james-browns-will-still-tangled-legal-mess/#sthash.kAOFv0Wx.dpuf
Can you believe the dispute over soul legend James Brown’s will is still ongoing?
Brown died in 2006 and his will he divided his property among the six children he recognized and charity. “The bulk of his estate, worth millions of dollars — perhaps tens of millions — was to go to a trust to provide scholarships to needy children here in his native state and in Georgia, where he grew up,” reports The New York Times.
So far nothing has been distributed because some of his children want to turn Brown’s former home into a Graceland-style attraction and have challenged the will. So has a woman he referred to as his wife, though he later contested the legality of their marriage.
So Brown’s estate sits tangled in a legal mess that includes lawsuits and millions paid in to creditors, law firms and various vendors, but not to schoolchildren or other beneficiaries. Even Brown’s body remains in a temporary resting place, not the planned memorial at his home.
When he made his will in 2000, Brown explained on an audio tape how he hoped his scholarship fund would benefit both White and Black children.
The will also set aside $2 million in scholarships for his seven grandchildren and divided his personal property, like costumes and household effects, worth perhaps another $2 million, among the six children he recognized. And any heir who challenged the distribution would be disinherited, the will directed.
But this didn’t stop the challenges, especially from those left out. Many of Brown’s children and grandchildren sued to overturn the will and to remove three longtime associates Brown had appointed as executors of the estate: his accountant, David Cannon; his personal lawyer, Albert H. Dallas; and a former judge, Alfred Bradley. Several children allege that Brown, who had had drug problems, had been influenced by lawyers and managers who stood to profit. Since then, all three executors have resigned. In fact, Cannon left due to allegations that he had misappropriated Brown’s money and was later sentenced in a separate case to three years of house confinement after being charged with breach of trust in his management of Brown’s affairs
By 2008, Henry McMaster, then the South Carolina attorney general, had stepped in. He said that Brown’s charitable initiatives had been endangered by the court challenges filed by his family.
“Under a proposed settlement with the family, he redirected a quarter of the estate’s assets to Brown’s children and grandchildren and a quarter to the singer Tommie Rae Hynie, whom Brown married in 2001 but had left out of the will,” reports the Times.
This all changed when last year the South Carolina Supreme Court threw out the attorney general’s settlement and during the past 18 months, the lower court judge to whom the case was returned, Doyet A. Early III, is still holding hearings into the matter.
Brown’s estate was estimated at $86 million, based on offers that had been made to buy the copyrights to the more than 800 songs Brown wrote or controlled and to the dozens of albums he recorded in his 50-year career. And Brown is still making money–his music generates millions of dollars in royalties for the estate annually.
– See more at: http://madamenoire.com/496133/please-please-please-james-browns-will-still-tangled-legal-mess/#sthash.kAOFv0Wx.dpuf
