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 The denials, in Minnesota court documents filed on Wednesday,
came in reply to three individuals seeking a piece of the estate
left by Prince after he died unexpectedly in April, apparently
without a will, and demanding DNA tests to prove they were his
half-siblings.
The dismissals, subject to a judge's review, underscored the
tangled and voluminous testaments of kinship that need to be
sorted out by the Minnesota probate court overseeing Prince's
estate, estimated to be worth more than $500 million.
Among the more colorful are petitions from at least three men
claiming they were fathered by Prince out of wedlock - two who
are now incarcerated - and a woman who claims she was a secret
bride to Prince whose marriage records are classified by the CIA
as top secret.
The latest decisions dealt with three people who have asserted
that their late father, Loyal James Gresham Jr., was also
Prince's biological father by way of an extramarital affair with
Prince's mother, Mattie Della Shaw, the year before Prince was
born.
Prince, whose legal name was Prince Rogers Nelson, has long been
identified in public records as the only son from Mattie Shaw's
marriage to John L. Nelson, who also fathered Prince's younger
sister, Tyka Nelson, and three older surviving children from a
previous marriage.
David Crosby, an attorney for the estate's special
administrator, Bremer Trust, wrote in a letter of determination
that Minnesota law presumes that John and Mattie were Prince's
biological parents because they were married when he was born.
"Only a very limited group of persons have standing to challenge
that presumption and, in any event, the time to make such a
challenge passed long ago," Crosby wrote.
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 He cited a statute of limitations requirement that any
challenge to that presumption be brought within three years of
the child's birth. Prince was born in 1958.
Crosby said no DNA testing was necessary to dismiss the claims of
Gresham's three adult children, daughters Darcell Gresham Johnston
and Orrine Gresham and son Loyal Gresham III.
Separately, Crosby upheld as valid the claims of heirship from five
known half-siblings, previously acknowledged in court filings by
Tyka Nelson, who Crosby said have demonstrated that they share at
least one genetic parent with Prince.
If Prince left no will and no surviving offspring of his own, as his
sister stated, then his estate under Minnesota law would be
apportioned in equal shares to his siblings and the nearest
surviving descendents of any siblings now dead, according to court
papers. Siblings and half-siblings are treated the same under
Minnesota inheritance law.
Prince, who was 57, was found dead at his Minnesota home and studio
complex in April. Medical examiners ruled last month he died of an
accidental, self-administered overdose of the opioid painkiller
fentanyl.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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