Prince Had No Known Will as Sister Seeks Control of Estate

Prince | Photo Credit: Jessica Watkins DeWinter

Prince‘s sister, Tyka Nelson, said the late musician had no known will and has filed paperwork requesting a Minneapolis court name her special administrator to oversee his estate, The Associated Press reports.

Nelson is Prince’s only surviving full sibling, though he also has three surviving half-siblings; he was not married when he died and had no known living children. In court documents, Nelson reportedly requested that Bremer Trust be named the administrator of Prince’s estate, noting Bremer Bank provided financial services to Prince over the years.

The musician’s longtime lawyer and former manager, L. Londell McMillan ”” who has also played a role in the estates of Michael Jackson, Notorious B.I.G. and Sammy Davis, Jr. ”” declined to comment to the AP on the existence of a will or any other particulars regarding the Prince estate. He did say, however, “I want to make sure his legacy is respected and protected no matter what role I play.”

But while an official will has yet to surface, it could appear in the coming weeks. Under Minnesota law, a person can file a will with probate court in secret. If Prince did, the will ”” along with any trust he created or heirs he named ”” would be made public once a death certificate is filed. The medical examiner, however, has yet to issue one for Prince, and an autopsy performed last week was inconclusive; authorities are currently awaiting the results of toxicology tests, which could take weeks.

Per the Minneapolis Star Tribune, investigators are supposedly focusing on how painkillers may have led to Prince’s recent hospitalization and subsequent death. Days before he was found dead, Prince’s plane was forced to make an emergency landing for medical reasons and the singer was reportedly given a shot of Narcan, an opioid antidote.

A lawyer for two of Prince’s late siblings, Lorna and Duane Nelson (who died in 2006 and 2011, respectively), said both spoke with him about Prince’s dependency on Percocet and cocaine, but others close to the musician ”” including McMillan, Shelia E. and his driver ”” denied any rumors of substance abuse.

It is unclear how much Prince’s estate is worth, though his albums and tours raked in millions, and his real estate holdings ”” which included the Paisley Park complex outside of Minneapolis ”” totaled around $27 million. Like Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley, Prince is expected to become a huge non-living earner. In the days following his sudden death, three Prince albums surged into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200: The Very Best of Prince topped the charts with 179,000 copies sold, Purple Rain took the Number Two spot with 69,000 copies and The Hits/The B-Sides fell at Number Six.