Entertainment industry experts to join Prince estate case
Purple flowers line the fence outside Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minn. in honor of Prince. Photo by Fox 9 reporter Jack Highberger.
CHASKA, Minn. (KMSP) - Bremer Trust, the special administrator of Prince’s estate, has requested and received permission to hire entertainment industry experts to help with the “management and preservation of the wide-ranging intellectual property of the Estate.” Court documents were filed Thursday and made public Friday.
Prince had recently signed a big deal with the music streaming service Tidal and reached a settlement with Warner Brothers that gave him ownership of his back catalogue. Among the treasures inside Paisley Park is the basement vault where Prince reportedly kept the master recordings to hundreds of unpublished songs and at least two complete albums. MORE - Future of Prince's estate up in air
“There will be a spike in income [when] people of that ilk pass away, especially in [their] 50s,” said entertainment attorney Lee Phillips, who became Prince's lawyer when he was just 18 and represented him for more than a decade.
The court order approving the hiring of entertainment experts restated the fact that money is the focus of the probate case involving the estate of Prince Rogers Nelson.
“The Court intends for the Special Administrator to take all prudent steps to monetize the Estate's intellectual property, and defers to the Special Administrator's judgment as to the timing, terms, and conditions necessary to do so,” the order said.
The next probate hearing is June 27.