Did you know that Prince's estimated wealth at the time of his death in 2016 was over
$150 million dollars?
So, are you curious to know if the "Purple Rain" singer left his massive fortune to any
family members?
Keep watching to find out.
Even in a year that seemed to play host to the tragic deaths of an unusual number of
major celebrities, the loss of pop genius Prince on April 21, 2016, was, for many, a
huge shock.
In the preceding months, performer and songwriter had seemingly been riding the crest of a wave
of success and creativity.
Prince had recently formed a new backing band, 3rdeyegirl, and was enjoying a purple patch
of prolific recording, performances, and well-received album releases.
"He also, he had so many things that he wanted to do next."
The Purple One had also been highly visible during the last year of his life thanks to
his political activism, and for his involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement following
the fatal injuries suffered in police custody of Freddie Gray.
But Prince was also privately struggling with addiction, specifically an increased use of
opioid painkillers that he initially used to combat chronic hip pain.
He died of an overdose of the drug fentanyl, aged 57, leaving behind him an enormous personal
fortune and a body of work worth millions of dollars.
"He was possibly the most talented, charismatic, influential and barrier-breaking musician
of his generation."
However, Prince left no will, meaning that control of his fortune — and his music — was
on the line, with circumstances setting the stage for what the Star Tribune would later
describe as "one of the most complicated and expensive probate cases" ever in Prince's
home state of Minnesota.
With no will to indicate Prince's wishes regarding who would inherit his fortune might be, and
with the late singer unmarried and childless at the time of his death — his only son,
Amiir, tragically died in infancy in 1996 — a major legal battle reportedly ensued,
with numerous figures staking their claim for what the IRS estimated to be a $163.2
million fortune, according to Forbes.
Prince's estate was initially carved up between his six siblings and half-siblings, while
the estate continued to be managed by the Comerica Bank & Trust.
In 2021, three of Prince's inheritors sold their stakes to Primary Wave, a New York music
publishing company that from then on controlled half of the musician's estate.
Primary Wave, whom the Star Tribune describes as an "aggressive" and "well-funded" organization
that controls the catalogs of a plethora of musicians, from Ray Charles to Stevie Nicks,
also made offers to Prince's other siblings.
However, the company is reportedly holding on to their assets, telling the Star Tribune:
"We'll never sell out.
We know the prize."
Since his death, numerous albums of new material have been released from Prince's extensive
private archive at his Paisley Park complex, which is believed to contain more than 8,000
songs, meaning that those who retain the rights could enjoy a healthy profit from unreleased
music for years to come.
Though control of Prince's estate was now split between three of his siblings and the
publisher Primary Wave, by 2021 — a full five years after the musician's death — legal
battles concerning who was owed what raged on.
As well as the acquisition of the rights to Prince's catalog, another ongoing legal wrangle
concerned the valuation of Prince's estate in total, including assets such as property.
As the Star Tribune notes, though the IRS's valuation of $163.2 million captured headlines,
the administrators of Prince's estate, Comerica Bank & Trust, originally valued it at $82.3
million, almost half of the IRS's estimate.
According to the Star Tribune, the IRS was so incensed by the low valuation that they
hit the administrator with an "accuracy-related penalty" of $6.4 million.
In response, Comerica sued the IRS, claiming that they had made numerous miscalculations
in their assessment.
Thereafter the two parties attempted to settle the valuation of various aspects of Prince's
estate before the two attempted to assess the value of Prince's music catalog.
Eventually, both parties reached an agreement that the estate was in fact worth $156.4 million,
with the IRS agreeing to drop their penalty against Comerica, who called the settlement
"fair and reasonable."
The settlement meant that the estate avoided going to trial, where legal fees could've
threatened to take a huge chunk of the estate's value — the six-year saga to settle what
was owed to Prince's heirs and to the IRS had already racked up millions in attorneys'
fees.
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