What is going on with Prince’s estate? The IRS have been locked in a dispute with Comerica Bank, the administrators of the ‘Purple Rain’ singer’s estate, for several years over the value of the late star’s wealth but a filing in Carver County probate court submitted on Friday (14.01.22) showed they have now reached an agreement, meaning the process of distributing Prince‘s assets could now begin as early as next month, the Star Tribune newspaper reports.
The US tax authority had valued the estate at $163.2 million, almost double the $82.3 million Comerica had claimed it was worth, resulting in years of legal proceedings.
Prince died from an accidental overdose in April 2016, aged 57, and did not leave a will, with his fortune due to go to his siblings, though two of the six, Alfred Jackson and John R. Nelson have passed away since then.
An attorney for three of the ‘Raspberry Beret’ hitmaker’s siblings, L. Londell McMillan, said: “It has been a long six years.”
What is going on with Prince’s estate?
In the end, the estate will be almost evenly divided between a well-funded New York music company — Primary Wave — and the three oldest of the music icon’s six heirs or their families. The IRS and Comerica settled last spring on the real-estate portion of Prince’s estate.
Prince died without a will in 2016
The IRS and Comerica settled the real estate portion of Prince’s estate last spring, but determining the value of intangible assets, such as the right to Prince’s music, meant the process was delayed until October.
The estate will now be almost evenly split between a music company, Primary Wave – who bought out all or most of the interests of Prince’s three youngest siblings, including Alfred, while the others rejected their approach – and the three oldest of Prince’s heirs or their families.
Prince’s Estate is Worth 156.4 million
As part of the agreement, the IRS have also dropped their request for an accuracy penalty of $6.4 million.
Comerica claimed the IRS settlement was “fair and reasonable”.
They also told Prince’s beneficiaries that if lowering estate taxes was their “primary interest,” they should continue with the dispute and go to trial if necessary, where they were confident they would have “prevailed”.
Their court filing stated: “Instead, the members of the heir group have uniformly communicated to [Comerica] their strong desire that the estate settle with the taxing authorities.”
The six-year battle over Prince’s estate may finally be reaching its end following an agreement between parties that the late singer’s estate is worth $156 million.
According to the Star Tribune, Comerica Bank & Trust — the estate’s administrator — and the IRS revealed the valuation at a hearing Friday, a figure that encompasses both Prince’s real estate holdings and the value of his catalog and legendary vault of unreleased recordings.
The valuation was also agreed upon by lawyers of six of Prince’s heirs, two of whom have died during the lengthy estate battle that has languished in courts since his death in 2016; Prince did not have a will at the time of his death.
The valuation comes six months after three of Prince’s heirs (including the family of half-brother Alfred Jackson, an heir who died in 2019) reached deals with the independent music publisher and talent management company Primary Wave to sell their stakes in their brother’s estate, a deal that included a portion of Prince’s royalties from his masters, his writer’s share, name and likeness, and Paisley Park property; Prince’s three oldest heirs — including half-brother John Nelson, who died in September 2021, and two half-siblings in their 80s — opted not to partake in the agreement, which left Primary Wave with the single largest stake (but not a majority stake) in the Prince estate with 42 percent.
With a $156 million valuation in place — Comerica previously gave the estate an $82.3 million appraisal, while the IRS estimated it was worth $163.2 million in 2020 — the estate will be split among Primary Wave and the three oldest heirs (or their families) as soon as February. Prince’s lawyer L. Londell McMillan, who now represents the three oldest heirs, said at Friday’s hearing, “It has been a long six years.”
McMillan previously said after half of Prince’s heirs made the Primary Wave deal, “No matter what, we are going to fight to preserve the legacy of Prince. We would like to bring the purple back and actually do things the way Prince did,” while adding in a statement, “We will work with Primary Wave and any other party that holds interest in the estate.”
