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Prince Heirs — Judge Rejects 5 Would-Be Heirs To Massive Fortune In Appeal

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 10:27 PST, Sep 5, 2017

Prince didn’t leave a will, but he did leave a fortune that is in the neighborhood of $200 million. With that kind of money up for grabs, the judge overseeing the Prince estate has his hands full deciphering between the legal heirs due to his family background.

The judge who has been presiding over the late Prince’s financial affairs rejected the claims of five people who presented themselves as legal heirs to the late rock star’s estate. These five people appealed the judge’s rejection and the appeals court turned them down once again, suggesting Carver County District Judge Kevin Eide originally made the right call under the laws governing the state.

Eide “properly applied the state laws on parentage,” cited the appeals court, once hearing the case of five people reporting to be half-siblings of the iconic late rocker. Back in May Eide declared that Prince died without leaving a will. His ruling stated that Prince had “six recognized surviving siblings” and these were his legal heirs.

The judge declared the late John L. Nelson and the late Mattie Shaw as the legal parents of Prince. They were legally married at the time he was born, which in the eyes of the law of the state makes them his legal parents.

Five people claimed in court documents that Nelson was not Prince’s biological father and that they were the half-siblings of Prince through other men. The judge refused genetic testing for these five people so they could prove or disprove their relation to Prince.

According to Page Six, the five would-be heirs and self-proclaimed half-siblings of Prince are Darcell Gresham Johnston, Loya Janel Wilson, Loyal James Gresham III, Orrine Gresham, and Venita Jackson Leverette.

In the eyes of the Minnesota law, when Prince was born, his father was the man who was legally married to his mother at the time. The people who were declared the legal heirs to Prince’s fortune were children recognized as the legal children of Prince’s legal parents.

There is still an appeal pending for two more would-be heirs to the Prince fortune today. Both were also rejected by Judge Eide when they first showed up in court. They are the daughter and granddaughter of the late Duane J. Nelson, who was once Prince’s head of security.

Briana Nelson and Victoria Nelson, who are the daughter and granddaughter of the late Duane J. Nelson, are the two people still waiting on their appeals. The late Duane Nelson was the son of John Nelson, who is legally seen as Prince’s father.

The two women acknowledge that Duane Nelson was not John Nelson’s biological son, but John Nelson treated Duane as his son. They do feel they are entitled to some of Prince’s fortune because Duane was seen as John’s son. While their case was heard in July by the appeals court, the ruling on that case has not been handed down as of yet.

As it stands today, it is Prince’s legal siblings who are the rightful heirs to his fortune, although they are still waiting on the two appeal rulings.

According to Biography, Prince got his start via some musical parents. The website reports,

“Famed singer, songwriter and musical innovator Prince was born Prince Rogers Nelson on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His parents were John Nelson, a musician whose stage name was Prince Rogers, and Mattie Shaw, a jazz singer who performed with the Prince Rogers Band.”

[Featured Image by Liu Heung Shing/AP Images]

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