Wednesday, December 27, 2006

It's Gonna Get UGLY!!!!

I thought James Brown blew all his $$$ on hookers, drugs, divorces and beatin settltments! He had $$ left?

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off of the Scotsman:

Widow of soul legend locked out as battle opens over will

KEVIN SCHOFIELD

THE first blow in what promises to be a long and protracted fight over James Brown's estate was struck yesterday when his widow was locked out of the home she and the soul legend had shared for the past ten years amid claims the pair had never been legally married.

Just hours after the singer's death, Tomi Rae Hynie returned to the house in Beech Island, South Carolina, to find that its wrought-iron gates had been padlocked shut.

"They've been robbing from him all of his life and they'll do it in death," she said.
Although she admitted she did not own the deeds to the home, she insisted she and the couple's five-year-old son, James Jr, had a legal right to continue living there.

"This is my home," Ms Hynie said outside the gates of the house. "I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go."

Brown and Ms Hynie were married in 2001. But the singer's lawyer, Buddy Dallas, said Ms Hynie was already married to another man, thereby making her marriage to Brown null and void.

Mr Dallas said Ms Hynie later annulled the previous marriage, but never remarried Brown, as she was required to do to make their union legal.

"It's not intended, and I hope not interpreted, to be an act of unkindness or an act of a lack of sympathy," Mr Dallas said.

"Ms Hynie has a home a few blocks away from Mr Brown's home where she resides periodically when she is not with Mr Brown. She is not without housing or home."

Brown died on Christmas Day of heart failure after being admitted to hospital with pneumonia. He was 73.

Known as the "Godfather of Soul", Brown made and lost millions of dollars during a long and often controversial music career which spanned more than half a century.

But with at least three ex-wives and six children, a huge legal battle is expected over who will get to share in the money he has left behind.

Born in May 1933 into extreme poverty, Brown earned money dancing for soldiers, picking cotton and shining shoes.

At end of the 1960s, by which time he was a household name around the world thanks to his music career, Brown had also proved himself to be a talented entrepreneur and owned his own publishing company, three radio stations and a Learjet.

However, the radio stations and the jet had to be sold during the 1970s after United States Internal Revenue Service demanded $4.5 million (£2.3 million) in unpaid taxes.

In 1999, Brown struck a deal which saw him receive more than $25 million (£13 million) in bonds against advance publishing royalties.

To provide further proof of his ability to spend money almost as quickly as he earned it, however, Brown sought to re- finance the bonds with a new loan this year.

Despite their tempestuous relationship - Brown was fined £570 on a domestic violence charge in 2004 - Ms Hynie yesterday insisted they were still a couple at the time of his death.
"The last thing he said to me was, 'I love you baby and I'll see you soon'," she said.

Mr Dallas said no-one could be allowed into Brown's home until a court certifies that any will left by the singer is genuine.

He said legal formalities now needed to be followed, adding that the singer's estate was left in trust for his children.

However, he declined to elaborate on Brown's final instructions.

Mr Dallas said the decision to lock Ms Hynie out of the couple's home was "not a reflection on her as an individual".

"I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed," he said.

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