James Brown Leaves Partner & Young Son Out Of His Will
Posted January 12, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The hardest working man in show business has yet to be laid to rest, but his will was read Thursday in South Carolina and it contained some surprising omissions.
James Brown’s final testament did not include the singer’s five-year-old son James Jr. or his partner, Tomi Rae Hynie. It did, however, provide for his six other kids. The legendary singer died of heart failure on Christmas Day. He was 73.
The gates to Brown’s home were locked up following his death to protect memorabilia and other personal items inside, according to his lawyers, and will remain so until all issues surrounding his estate are settled, including where he will be buried. Hynie, too, was locked out of the house she shared with Brown.
The home has been owned by the trust since August 2000, the singer’s lawyer Buddy Dallas said, adding that “technically, the trustees own it for the benefit of the trust. It was not in the name of James Brown and hasn’t been that way for years.”
Brown’s will was read, but has not yet been filed in probate court, Dallas said Thursday.
Hynie’s lawyer, Thorton Morris, said he doesn’t know anything about the will.
“She was locked out of the house so she doesn’t know where the will that’s being probated was found,” he said of his client. “She has no knowledge to when this particular will was executed.”
Meanwhile, Brown’s embalmed remains are still in a sealed casket in his South Carolina home until his lawyers can settle the posthumous problems.
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