• 12
  • April
    2011

The late soul singer James Brown left an estate worth around $100 million, and since his death in December of 2006, that estate has been the subject of a will contest.

Brown's record producer, Jacque Hollander, claims Brown's children have hijacked his estate and subverted the final wishes of the Godfather of Soul. Hollander has gone to court to try to convince a judge that Brown's intentions were to leave his estate to a trust established for needy children.

Hollander is in federal court to stop a settlement agreement that would give Brown's children a sizable portion of the singer's estate.

Brown's will acknowledged six children (there were others who claimed to be children of his) but his instructions left the children only personal and household effects.

In a twist on the story, Hollander claims that the Rev. Al Sharpton is helping Brown's children, but only for his own personal gain.

Hollander says of Sharpton, who was a close friend of Brown's, "He was left out of it. He always felt that he would walk away with a pretty sizeable chunk of James Brown and was left nothing."

Sharpton denies that he would gain anything from Brown's estate from his helping the children's cause.

However, Florida will contest attorneys note that Brown's will expressly said that if he failed to provide for any relatives, "such failure is intentional and not occasioned by accident or mistake."

Other than the personal effects, the will instructed that the entire estate was to go into two trusts -- one for the education of his grandchildren and the other being the James Brown "I Feel Good" Trust. The latter was to fund the education of needy children.

Deanna Brown Thomas, a daughter of Brown's, said she and her siblings want to overturn the will because they believe it does not accurately reflect their father's wishes.

Source: New York Post "James Brown's ex-producer fighting family over his estate" 4/3/2011