Legal wrangling over the Godfather of Soul’s estate has been ongoing since his death at the age of 73 on Christmas Day 2006.<\/b>
\nCOLUMBIA, S.C. \u2014 The family of entertainer James Brown has reached a settlement ending a 15-year battle over the late singer\u2019s estate, an attorney involved in the mediation said Friday. David Black, an attorney representing Brown\u2019s estate, confirmed that the agreement was reached July 9. Details of the settlement were not disclosed. Legal wrangling over the Godfather of Soul\u2019s estate has been ongoing since his death at the age of 73 on Christmas Day 2006. The performer\u2019s death touched off years of bizarre headlines, beginning with Tomi Rae Hynie \u2014 a former partner who claimed to be Brown\u2019s wife \u2014 being locked out of his 60-acre (24-hectare) estate while photographers captured her sobbing and shaking its iron gates, begging to be let in. Brown was renowned for hundreds of iconic musical works including hits like \u201cI Feel Good\u201d and \u201cA Man\u2019s World,\u201d and was known around the world for his flashy performances and dynamic stage presence. But years of drug problems and financial mismanagement caused his estate to dwindle. More than a dozen lawsuits were filed over the years by people trying to lay claim to the singer\u2019s assets, which courts have estimated to be worth anything from $5 million to more than $100 million. The fight over Brown\u2019s estate even spilled over into what to do with his body. Family members fought over the remains for more than two months, leaving Brown\u2019s body, still inside a gold casket, sitting in cold storage in a funeral home. Brown was eventually buried in Beech Island, South Carolina, at the home of one of his daughters. The family wanted to turn the home into a shrine for Brown similar to Elvis Presley\u2019s Graceland, but that idea never got off the ground. Last year, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Hynie had not been legally married to Brown and therefore did not have a right to his multimillion-dollar estate. Justices also ordered a circuit court to \u201cpromptly proceed with the probate of Brown\u2019s estate in accordance with his estate plan,\u201d which outlined creation of a trust that would use his music royalties to fund educational expenses for children in South Carolina and Georgia. A 2009 settlement plan would have given nearly half of Brown\u2019s estate to a charitable trust, a quarter to Hynie, and the rest to be split among his adult children. The state Supreme Court overturned that deal in 2013, writing that then-Attorney General Henry McMaster \u2014 now the state\u2019s governor \u2014 hadn\u2019t followed Brown\u2019s expressed wishes for most of his money to go to charity, having instead selected a professional manager who took control of Brown\u2019s assets from the estate\u2019s trustees to settle debts. Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Enter your email and password to access comments. Forgot Password? Don’t have a Talk profile? Create one. Invalid username\/password. Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration. Create a commenting profile by providing an email address, password and display name. You will receive an email to complete the registration. Please note the display name will appear on screen when you participate. Already registered? Log in to join the discussion. Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login to participate in the conversation. Here\u2019s why. Use the form below to reset your password. When you’ve submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code. Send questions\/comments to the editors.<\/p>\n