A Prince's ransom: Singer's heirs have paid $45M in legal fees and owe $31M in estate taxes three years after his death - but plan to pocket millions by releasing 21 albums from Paisley Park vault
- Legal filings submitted by Prince's heirs reveal that the $45 million of the singer's estate has already been spent on legal and probate fees
- That same filing states that $31 million is due to cover estates taxes that have yet to be paid by the family
- Of the many projects that are planned, the biggest undertaking looks to be their release of 21 legacy albums from the late singer's vault
- Sunday marked the third anniversary of Prince's death. The singer found to have 'exceedingly' high dosage of Fentanyl in his system when he passed away
Sunday marked the third anniversary of the tragic passing of Prince, and the beginning of the costly and contentious process of dividing up his estate.
Court filings obtained by DailyMail.com reveal that the singer's siblings have managed to wrack up 'more than $45 million dollars... on probate related administrative expenses' in that time, with over $10 million of that going towards the legal fees of just one firm.
There is also the issue that 'more than $31 million of unpaid estate taxes continue to accumulate interest', states one of the singer's siblings in their most recent declaration in the case.
This three-year ordeal will soon be coming to an end though, with representatives of the singer's estate looking to refund all creditors and then pay out inheritances to the singer's heirs by the end of next month.
And already they have made big plans for what they intend to do with the singer's vault of music while also getting to work offloading many of his properties.
Of the many projects that are planned, the biggest undertaking looks to be their release of 21 legacy albums from the late singer's vault.
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Up in the heir: Legal filings submitted by Prince's heirs reveal that the $45 million of the singer's estate has already been spent on legal and probate fees (l to r: half-brother Omar Baker, Virginia Baker, Blackish creator Kenya Bariis, and Sharon Nelson)
Records: Of the many projects that are planned, the biggest undertaking looks to be their release of 21 legacy albums from the late singer's vault (entrance to vault above)
Tragic passing: Sunday marked the third anniversary of Prince's death, with the singer found to have 'exceedingly' high dosage of Fentanyl in his system when he passed away
That fell through though due to poor planning and decision making by Comerica according to the legal filing, with Prince's half-sister taking aim at the financial firm handling many of the expenses.
'Comerica’s failure to properly protect the Estate’s audio and visual recordings is just the tip of the iceberg. Despite Comerica’s lack of entertainment and music expertise, Comerica has failed to include those who have had direct experience with Prince and those knowledgeable about the business,' stated Sharon Nelson.
'Specifically, Comerica has refused to permit Petitioners’ business representative, L. Londell McMillan, to attend Heir meetings and has refused to negotiate reasonable terms of non—disclosure agreement (“NDA”) related to McMillan. The exclusion of those who understood Prince’s business, as well as certain Heirs, is causing economic waste and irreparable harm to the Estate.'
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Sharon later cited the hiring of Troy Carter as a music adviser to the heirs as one of these problems, with the company not revealing he was an executive at Spotify.
'At first the Petitioners attempted to work with Comerica, attending meetings of the Heirs in order to provide their valuable input,' declared Sharon.
'However, Comerica ignored their feedback, directly telling Sharon Nelson that the Heirs had no voice in Comerica’s decisions.'
It was initially thought that Prince's sister Tyka would inherit the singer's entire estate upon his death due to the absence of a will.
Tyka and her brother had become close in his final years after a difficult stretch in their relationship when Tyka was struggling with an addiction to crack cocaine and prostituting herself to support her two young sons, Sir Montece Laeil Nelson and President LenNard Laeil Nelson.
Prince had a net worth of at least $200 million, which did not include the millions his estate made in the weeks after his death from the increased sale of merchandise and music, or the money the singer received when he signed a deal agreeing to stream all his music on Tidal.
His music catalog meanwhile is worth over $500 million according to Prince's first manager Owen Husney, due in large part to the fact that unlike other artists he owned both his master recordings as well as his own music publishing.
Prince also has a large collection of unreleased music, which Husney believes may include an album he made with jazz great Miles Davis.
Minnesota law states that if an unmarried individual with no children dies without a will, the parents, grandparents, and siblings of that person stand to inherit their wealth, though that can be contested in court under certain circumstances.
Prince's parents, John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw, are both dead and Tyka is his only sibling.
After Tyka, Prince's closest relatives are his three half-sisters and four half-brothers.
His father John had three daughters and two sons from his marriage to Vivian Nelson - Lorna, Norrine, Sharon, Duane, and John.
Lorna passed away in 2006 and in 2011 her brother Duane died.
Then, after her divorce from John, Prince's mother Mattie remarried and gave birth to two sons, Omarr and Alfred.
