Prince, end of the war between heirs and the taxman: assets of 156 million dollars, off to the division

At the end of a years-long legal battle, an agreement was reached on Prince's inheritance, including a catalog of songs and real estate.

The singer's bequest was valued at $ 156.4 million, nearly double the previous estimate. The figure was agreed by the administrators of Comerica Bank and Trust with the heirs of the "goblin of Minneapolis" and the federal tax agency (IRS).

Prince died in April 2017 at the age of 57 without a will from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, an opiate-based pain reliever. Beneficiaries of the legacy are his three older brothers and the music publishing house Primary Wave which, in August 2021, had bought the shares of the artist's music catalog from three other heirs, one of whom has in the meantime passed away.

Fund distribution is expected to begin in February.

"It's been six long years," commented L. Londell McMillan, attorney for the brothers involved in the dispute who now hope to move on after racking up huge legal fees to get to this moment.

The three heirs and Primary Waves also hope to further monetize the solution of the case: the market for music catalogs is hotter than ever, with publishers such as Primary Waves itself, the British Hipgnosis, Sony Music and Universal having got their hands on rights of contemporary music icons such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Fleetwood Max, Paul Simon and David Bowie.

Prince has left behind an extraordinary legacy of iconic titles such as "Purple Rain", "When Doves Cry" and "1999", which could yield lucrative royalties in sales, streaming, movie soundtracks and TV commercials.

The battle over the inheritance had begun when the singer died: the IRS had turned to the court to prove that the hereditary axis had been widely underestimated. It wasn't a matter of pennies in part because of the singer's real estate - among them, the vast 60-acre undeveloped area in Chanhassen, the Minneapolis suburb where Prince had his studio and Paisley Park creative headquarters - but the the real crux of the dispute had been the estimate of the musical safe. The revenue agency had calculated the value of the inheritance at 163.2 million dollars, double the 82.3 million declared by the administrators, with heavy consequences for the heirs also in terms of the tax burden.

(Unioneonline / vl)