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Lawyers for Brianna Nelson, 31, identified as a niece of
Prince, and an 11-year-old girl identified as his grandniece and
her initials "V.N." in court documents, filed papers in
Minnesota probate court asserting they are among his heirs.
Both claim to be surviving descendants of Prince - born Prince
Rogers Nelson - as daughter and granddaughter to his late
half-brother, Duane Nelson Sr., who once headed Prince's
security detail and died in 2011.
Their court motion states that Duane Nelson Sr., was omitted
from a list of six siblings and half-siblings documented in the
original probate petition filed by Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson,
in late April.
If Prince left no will and no surviving offspring of his own, as
Tyka Nelson has claimed, 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 the filing. Siblings, half-siblings and their
descendants are treated the same, it said.
Since Duane Nelson Sr. is dead, his inheritance would pass to
his two children, Brianna Nelson and Duane Nelson Jr. But
because Duane Nelson Jr. died in 2005, his share would pass to
his lone surviving child, the 11-year-old V.N., the court motion
said.
That line of succession has already been cast into doubt by a
Prince paternity claim brought by a federal prison inmate in
Colorado last week attesting that he is the musician's
biological son.
The claimant, Carlin Q. Williams, 39, asserts he was sired by
Prince during a tryst his mother had with the singer in a Kansas
City hotel room in 1976. He has sought a court order for genetic
testing of DNA samples obtained from the late music star and a
comparison with his own.
Questions about Prince's estate have loomed since he was found
dead at age 57 at his Minnesota home and studio complex in
April.
The value of his music catalog - potential licensing fees,
royalties and sales from more than 30 albums he produced during
his lifetime and a purported vault of unreleased material - has
been estimated at more than $500 million.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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