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               Who Will Step Forward to Claim Prince's Millions?

   by Associated Press

   When he was alive, Prince made hundreds of millions of dollars - for
   record companies, concert venues and others. That much is certain.
   What's less clear is how much he left behind and who'll come forward to
   claim it.

   Less than a week after the pop star died and an outpouring of grief and
   nostalgia prompted fans to buy 2.3 million of his songs in three days,
   it's still uncertain whether he left a will, or who will handle his
   estate.

   Prince owned a dozen properties in and around his famous Paisley Park
   complex in suburban Minneapolis: mostly rural pieces of land and some
   houses for family members. Public records show those properties were
   worth about $27 million in 2016.

   Estimates of how much licensing his personal brand will bring in after
   death reach to the purple clouds.

   "He was as big as they get,'' said Mark Roesler, chief executive of CMG
   Worldwide, which handles licensing for the estates of Marilyn Monroe,
   James Dean and other late stars.

   Roesler estimates Prince's post-mortem earnings will match top-earning
   dead celebrities like Elvis Presley, whose estate made $55 million in
   2015, according to Forbes magazine.
    "Will there be a business built up around Prince 60 years from now
   like James Dean? The answer is unequivocally yes,'' said Roesler.

   If Prince filed a will or created a trust, heirs to his future fortune
   would be known. But no such documents have yet turned up.

   Under Minnesota law, a person can file a will with probate court in
   secret. If Prince did so, the fact one exists would become public once
   a death certificate is filed, but the medical examiner has not yet
   issued one for Prince. An autopsy was conducted Friday and his remains
   were cremated Saturday.

   L. Londell McMillan, a longtime lawyer and former manager of the
   superstar, declined to comment to The Associated Press about whether
   the entertainer had a will or any other particulars regarding his
   estate, but added: "I want to make sure his legacy is respected and
   protected no matter what role I play.'' McMillan was Michael Jackson's
   lawyer and played a role in his estate, as well as those of rapper
   Notorious B.I.G. and Sammy Davis Jr.

   Several other attorneys who have done work for Prince in the past -
   including Alan Eidsness, who handled his 2006 divorce from Manuela
   Testolini Nelson - said they were not handling his estate.

   Wealthy people usually create trusts to avoid the public spectacle of
   probate court, and it's probable Prince did so, according to Irwin
   Feinberg, a Los Angeles trust and probate lawyer.

   Prince wasn't married and had no known living children. He has one full
   sibling, sister Tyka Nelson, and five half-siblings (two other
   half-siblings have died), who could share in his estate if he has no
   will.

   The AP did not find liens or mortgages on any of his properties, which
   range from a sprawling 160-acre piece of grassland between Lake Lucy
   and Lake Ann, to a three-bedroom bungalow in Minneapolis that is home
   to his half brother, Omarr Baker.

   Prince sold over 100 million albums on his lifetime, according to
   Warner Music Group. And Pollstar, a concert industry magazine, said
   that in the years that his tours topped the charts - 10 years over four
   decades performing - the tours raked in $225 million in ticket sales.

   His best-earning touring year, when he took in $87.4 million, was 2004,
   the year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and two
   decades after the soundtrack to "Purple Rain'' went multi-platinum.

   But what remained in Prince's hands is, by any estimate, less than the
   sum of ticket and album sales. In every record deal, a cut goes to the
   label, background performers and music publishers, though Prince
   published and wrote his own songs. Concert ticket revenue is split
   among the venue, the promoter, staff and the cost of traveling around.
   And prince was known to throw expensive parties.

   Court battles in recent years suggest money wasn't free flowing.

   In April 2013, Prince lost a suit filed in New York State's Supreme
   Court brought by perfume maker Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics Inc.
   for failing to promote the "3121'' perfume line named after his album
   from 2006 and which he touted, but only once, in a massive concert that
   started July 7, 2007 near Macy's in downtown Minneapolis and ended at 5
   a.m. at the First Avenue club, a famous venue from "Purple Rain.''

   He was ordered to pay $4.4 million; he never did. Instead, plaintiff
   lawyers went searching for assets, found about $3 million in various
   Minnesota bank accounts, and used court orders to freeze them,
   according to Brian Slipakoff, a New York lawyer who represented the
   perfume maker. Prince settled for a lower amount shortly after.
   "It doesn't suggest there was oodles of cash lying around,'' Slipakoff
   said.

   Prince encountered tax difficulties several times over the years,
   including owing back taxes to France in 2012, which he paid up, and
   overdue property taxes around $450,000 in 2010. In 2013, the IRS filed
   a federal tax lien against him in Carver County, Minnesota, Court for
   $1.6 million. What happened with that case is unclear.

   Records on file with Carver County, where Paisley Park is located, show
   that he was up to date on his property taxes when he died.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/who-will-step-forward-to-claim-princes-milliions/3303317.html