Music legend Prince died abruptly last week. The musician was known for his high-expense lifestyle and sold over 100 million albums during his career. Prince didn’t have a wife or kids, and the musician failed to take writing a will seriously.
According to financial advisors and lawyers, Prince has financial trust issues that caused him to ignore his financial obligations for the future.
News broke on Tuesday that Prince’s sister filed with the courts to be granted special administration over her brother’s estate.
“Many people don’t write a will because they think they’ll be around forever,” states the Micklin Law Group. “Prince was likely one of these individuals.”
Even small-time investors write wills to ensure that their investments are divided in accordance to their wishes. Prince’s estate has been valued at $150 – $300+ million, according to recent reports from TMZ.
Prince’s assets include a stake in his own music catalog that includes a steady stream of royalty payments, real estate, licensing rights and unreleased songs that are said to be numerous.
Price, married twice, had one son that died shortly after being born. L. Lee Phillips, an attorney that once represented Prince, asserts that Prince should have known to make a will. “The longer one doesn’t pop up, the more likely there isn’t a will,” states Phillips in regards to a potential will being created.
Minnesota law is such that the singer’s assets would go to his closest relatives: his sister and half siblings. Prince had several half siblings and in recent years reconnected with his only full sibling, his sister, which makes matter more complicated for the courts.
“It’s unusual to have this amount of wealth and not have a will,” says one attorney.
Deceased pop star, Michael Jackson’s estate went through several legal hurdles before the singer’s estate was finalized. Jackson, unlike Prince, drafted several wills during his lifetime, which made the proceedings complex. The courts finally settled on the singer’s 2002 will, which left the singer’s assets to a family trust.
Jackson’s estate remained in negotiation stages for years due to the complexity of the singer’s debt, music catalog and investments.
Prince’s finances are set to be a major issue in coming weeks as the courts do not have a will, as of yet, to dictate how the superstar’s assets should be divided.
Image Credit: By Micahmedia at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13466179
