Local Law Firms Home > Probate Law News > The Probate Case of James Brown The probate case of funk music originator James Joseph Brown's $100 million music empire continues six years after his death. Brown's will had disinherited some of his children and companion Tommie Rae Hynie. He left only personal and household effects to six of his children and educational funds for some grandchildren. The bulk of his estate was supposed to go to the "I Feel Good" Trust for providing scholarships to deserving students in Georgia and South Carolina. But Tommie Rae Hynie claimed to be his wife and sued the Brown estate. Brown and Hynie had got married in 2001, but that never worked out because she was married to another man at that time. When Brown found out, he filed for an annulment, and the matter was settled when Hynie agreed never to claim to be his wife. But former Attorney General Henry McMaster worked out a settlement where half the estate went to Hynie and the children that were specifically disinherited in the will. Adele Pope, a former trustee of the Brown estate, appealed against this settlement in the South Carolina Supreme Court. Now the fight is over how to re-collect transferred assets so that the former AG's settlement can be nullified and James Brown's will can be honored. Specifically, the court is stuck at $25 million that can be given to the needy children if information contained in certain diaries maintained by Hynie are made public. The irony is that the diaries were initially available to all the interested parties who had a stake in the probate case. But then a judge ordered the original to be handed back to Hynie's lawyer after depositing copies with the Court Clerk. Pope says the AG's office holds all the documents, but has not yet made them public. The diaries would easily clear up the question of Hynie's claims to be Brown's wife. Other documents held by the AG and the current trustee of the estate offer precise appraisals of the annual $4-5 million in royalties Brown's music empire earns.
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