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Prince Estate Drama: Challenge For All Intellectual Property Has Been Filed

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 00:37 PST, Apr 28, 2016

Just a week after Prince Rogers Nelson was pronounced dead at his Paisley Park home and studio complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota, everyone wants to know who will inherit his estimated $300 million dollar estate. As no will has been found, Prince’s estate is going to the courts with what promises to be a long battle. Until this court decision is resolved, the estate has now been entrusted to Prince’s longtime bank — and already the first legal challenge to Prince’s vast intellectual property has been filed.

Tuesday, his sister, Tyka Nelson, stated that no will has been found and requested a special administrator to handle her brother’s estate. The twin cities newspaper, StarTribune, has reported that Carver County district judge Kevi Eide ordered that Bremer Trust be appointed to manage the entire Prince estate.

Quick to protect the valuable assets of Prince’s vault, Bremer has already gone to some serious lengths to remove the materials from the infamous vault of unreleased Prince material. Local twin cities ABC affiliate KSTP reported that Prince was the only person that knew the combination to his vault, so Bremer hired a St. Paul company to drill through the vault to remove all of the valuable recordings inside.

Good thing that a special administrator has been appointed, as the StarTribune has reported that there has already been the first legal challenge to the Prince estate. In Carver County, Rodney Herachio Dixon filed a claim against the estate. The resident of Murrieta, California, is claiming that he has a “$1 billion implied agreement” with Prince for all of the musician’s intellectual property, including the music inside the coveted vault. Dixon, who was previously called Aeric Alexander Mercury and Rameses America Mercury, is representing himself and says his claim stems from two California lawsuits from about 20 years ago.

Many fans and friends of Prince are shocked that this musician, who was so meticulous in his business dealings, did not write a will for his vast and complicated estate. Prince’s former lawyer took to Twitter to exclaim his regret that he did not council Prince on writing a will.

“My Opinion: #Prince absolutely should have had a Will (period)????”

Meanwhile, the official autopsy report is still days, possibly weeks, away, and there appears to be a lot of incorrect information reported regarding Prince’s final days. C.J., the StarTribune gossip columnist who frequently wrote about Prince, tweeted out a glaring mistake made by TMZ.

One reputable Minnesota source, KSTP, reported that Prince was seen by an outpatient program to reduce his need for the painkiller Percocet that he allegedly took for his serious hip pain. The news source added that this did not mean that he was addicted to painkillers. Yet, they confirmed that Prince, like many other patients dealing with chronic pain, was looking to get away from taking medication to deal with his hip and ankle pain. No other information was given and no connection was made with Prince’s appointment with a holistic doctor on the morning of his death.

Meanwhile, many are still mourning the death of Prince and making a pilgrimage to Paisley Park. There are purple flower memorials around the entire complex. The Senate have finally agreed to have Prince honored for his musical talents.

The Prince estate drama will continue for the foreseeable future. Now that the first challenge for all of Prince’s intellectual property has been filed, there will most likely be more challenges for others to get their hands on the prized vault. Fans of Prince feel more secure that the vault is now protected, but for how long?

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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