As you know, Prince’s net worth is being discussed across the globe because it appears he died without a will.
Whether Prince’s net worth was anything south of one dollar ($1) or north of the reported one hundred fifty million ($150 million), the rules likely governing this process will be Minnesota’s intestacy laws.
I believe all of us can learn from Prince by planning for tomorrow. Here is how.
Distributing Prince’s Net Worth
The calculation and distribution of Prince’s net worth will start with determining Prince’s heirs. In other words, identifying Prince’s sisters, brothers and cousins.
We start with Prince’s siblings because of these assumptions:
- Prince does not appear to have any living parents,
- Prince was unmarried, and
- Prince does not appear to have any children.
In Minnesota and assuming the above assumptions are true, a Probate Court will then review the 3rd level of “heir”. As you can see in this link, Minnesota’s 3rd level of heirs is siblings (brothers and sisters).
Thus, the first step in determining the distribution of Prince’s net worth is identifying his brothers and sisters. 
What about Prince’s half brother?
As long as there is link to Prince’s father or mother, a half brother and half sister will “take” or acquire equal distributions. Likely, this is true because of Minnesota statute 524.2-107.
Whether you agree or disagree, the general rule in Minnesota when a person dies without a will is as follows: no, Minnesota does not devalue a half-blood distribution versus a whole-blood distribution.
For this reason, Prince’s estate will be easy to divide between his half brothers and sisters. The hard part of dividing Prince’s estate is assigning a value to his intellectual property (songs, copyrights, legacy, etc.).
What about estranged brothers and sisters?
If there isn’t a will or trust, the general rule in Minnesota does not support reducing the distribution of an estate to an estranged whole-blood or half-blood sibling.
Legal issues impacting Prince’s Net Worth
Given the size of Prince’s estate, here are a handful of legal issues that will likely make Prince’s net worth interesting to follow:
- Identifying whether Prince had any causes of action versus past or present people or entities,
- Proving blood relationships with his siblings,
- Proving blood relationships with his nephews and nieces,
- Attaching value to his unreleased songs (intellectual property),
- Finding Prince’s will after the fact, and
- The impact gift advancements will have on Prince’s siblings.
What can we learn from Prince’s Net Worth
The distribution of Prince’s estate matters to you and me because problems, conflict and stress could have been limited or reduced by creating a plan.
Please contact me for help if you believe all of us can learn from Prince by planning for tomorrow.
