Who will get ownership over Prince’s famous Paisley Park estate?
Although there’s still a battle brewing over who should inherit the late musicians $100 million to $300 million estate, according to TMZ, the bank managing Prince’s estate recently filed docs requesting that the court allow them to divide Prince’s properties and they’re eyeing Paisley Park.
While the residence hasn’t hit the market just yet, the filing reads, “The properties that the special administrator is currently anticipating will be sold, and the appraised value of same are listed in spreadsheet attached as Exhibit A.”
Meanwhile, the 60,000-square-foot estate has been listed for an underwhelming $7 million. In fact, the banking institution has reportedly already hired a real estate agent.
Of course, considering just last week, Carver County District Judge Kevin Eide, who is overseeing the estate battle, narrowed the list of potential heirs from more than two dozen to just eight — this could get messy. Of those remaining, he ordered genetic testing for six believed to be descendants of John L. Nelson — including Duane Nelson’s daughter and granddaughter — to determine if they are related to Prince. We can only assume these individuals will do anything within their power to block such a sale.
If you’re playing catching up, growing up in Minneapolis, Prince and Duane attended the same school, played on the same basketball team and hung out with the same group of friends. People considered them to be half-brothers — many assuming they shared a father, John L. Nelson. According to a sworn statement from Carmen Denise Weatherall, Brianna Nelson’s mother, John L. Nelson and his daughter Norrine Nelson visited Duane’s apartment in Milwaukee in 1981. “I recall John Nelson being a quiet and reserved man who was loving toward Duane,” Weatherall’s statement said. “John Nelson spoke with great pride about Duane’s success at basketball and college.”
Weatherall also stated she overheard Norrine tell Duane he wasn’t a “real Nelson.” She recalled that John and Norrine fought about it, and he insisted Duane was his son. However, when John Nelson died in 2001, Duane was not listed among the other heirs. Sharon Nelson, Norrine’s sister, said in a sworn statement that “Duane Nelson was not determined to be the son of John L. Nelson.” Duane died in 2011 at age 52.
After Prince died, his only full sibling, Tyka Nelson, also filed probate documents that listed one deceased half-sister, Lorna Nelson. That same filing excluded Duane Nelson as an heir apparent.
As previously reported, musical genius Prince died April 21 at the age of 57. In April, a Minnesota rule that despite Prince’s estate being worth an approximated $250 million, the singer did not have a will in place to declare the distribution of his assets — opening a can of worms for those hoping to stake a claim on a piece of the funk legend’s pie.
