Minnesota Lawyer recently profiled a story on the ongoing legal battle over Prince’s estate. Domina Law Group and Attorney Brian Jorde are currently representing the heirs of Alfred Jackson Jr. – the legendary musician’s half-brother whose death in August 2019 further complicated the already complex case.
As reported by MinnLawyer, Prince Rogers Nelson did not have a will when he died at his Paisley Park home in April 2016, prompting a high-profile, protracted dispute over who should inherit his estate –estimated to be worth between $100 - $300 million.
In 2017, a Minnesota Judge ruled the singer’s estate would be split between Prince’s sister and 5 half-siblings, but a series of legal battles delayed its distribution.
Now, the recent death of Prince’s half-brother Alfred Jackson Jr., who was one of the siblings in line to inherit a portion of Prince’s estate, is complicating matters.
As MinnLawyer reports, Jackson’s death resulted in a separate dispute in Missouri, where one of Jackson’s surviving half-brothers filed suit contesting the validity of Alfred Jackson’s will, which bypasses his living siblings and give’s his entire estate to a California entertainment consultant, Raffles Van Excel, who family claims did not know Alfred for very long. The will had been executed in July 2019 in Jackson County, MO by an Attorney by the name of Leonardo da Vinci Starke.
Alfred Jackson died without children, surviving parents, or a spouse, and was survived by five half-siblings, two of whom are related to Prince. He was also unable to manage is own financial affairs, suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and was being treated with psychiatric medication the lawsuit notes.
Attorney Brian Jorde, who represents Shawn Jackson, told MinnLawyer that the heirs-at-law are also “incredibly concerned” about transactions and transfers made prior to Alfred Jackson’s death.
He added that discovery in the case is stayed until a March 24 scheduling conference, but will hopefully unveil that “a lot of people with a lot of financial motivations were doing a lot of deals.”
“Those need to be investigated to get a thorough investigation into all of the players and individuals and events that occurred at that time.
I’m going to connect all the dots, and I bet it’s going to turn out that all these people were communicating. I bet it’s going to turn out there were very few calls to Alfred himself.”
Read the full article featuring Brian Jorde's comments on the case on MinnLawyer.
Case Update
In January 2021, the Internal Revenue Service filed a notice of deficiency with the U.S. Tax Court stating that Prince’s estate owes over $32 million in federal taxes from 2016, as well as a $6+ million “accuracy-related penalty.”
In the court filing, the IRS alleges Prince’s estate is worth $163.2 million, nearly double the $82.3 million claimed by the estate’s administrator Comerica Bank & Trust. Much of the valuation dispute stems from the IRS’ assertion that Prince’s music rights, writer’s share, and real estate properties are worth significantly more than claimed.
The tax dispute is the latest complication in a protracted legal battle that has delayed payments to Prince’s heirs – including Prince’s half-brother Alfred Jackson, who died in 2019 and whose heirs are being represented by Attorney Brian Jorde.
Read more about the IRS’ tax dispute from the NY Times.