The special administrator marshaling Prince's $100-million-plus estate has submitted a proposal to verify potential heirs in an effort to resolve parentage questions by the end of the month.
If approved by Carver County District Judge Kevin Eide, potential heirs would have a week after filing a claim with the estate to submit an exhaustive, sworn affidavit outlining their parentage. The affidavit must be directed to Laura Krishnan at the law firm Stinson Leonard Street, which represents Bremer Trust, the special administrator of the estate.
The administrator would then have three days to respond, stating whether the person is an heir by law, with no need for genetic testing; requires genetic testing to verify the claim; is precluded by law from being an heir to the estate; needs to provide additional information, or has failed to comply or cooperate with the administrator.
Potential heirs who dispute the administrator's determination would have three days to file an objection with the court, which would rule at a hearing scheduled for June 27, or at a time of Eide's choosing.
Genetic testing, if required, would be performed by DNA Diagnostics Center. Results would be distributed to all parties to the action and filed with the court within three days, and the results could be offered as evidence in any court proceedings.
Parentage questions
The questionnaire about parentage requires certified copies of birth certificates and any marriage and divorce records that may exist for the potential heir's parents. It also asks whether the potential heir's purported father acknowledged his paternity in documents filed with a state registrar of vital records.
The affidavit asks whether the "man who married your biological mother [was] named as your father on your birth record with his consent," and whether that man was obligated to provide support under a written promise or court order.
The questionnaire addresses circumstances in which the potential heir's parents did not marry but attempted to do so, and whether the marriage was declared void or otherwise invalid. If the parents did not marry or attempt to, it asks, did any man and the potential heir's biological mother act as if they were the biological parents? It also asks whether the potential heir's biological mother married someone other than the biological father within 280 days before the claimant's birth.
No will found
Bremer Trust has stated in court filings that it has been unable to locate any will to Prince's estate. Presuming no will is found, Minnesota law would determine how the estate is divided.
At least a couple of people claiming to be Prince's children from unmarried liaisons have filed claims. If they can establish parentage, they would get it all. Barring that, the estate would be divided among Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, and at least five half-siblings: John, Norrine and Sharon Nelson, Alfred Jackson, and Omarr Baker.
Prince's relationship to the late Duane Nelson remains unclear. Although he was often described as a half-brother, he was not listed as an heir in the initial probate filing. Two of Duane Nelson's heirs have since filed birth records and other evidence that they claim establishes him as a half-sibling. Their attorneys have filed objections to the requirement for genetic testing.
Prince was found dead the morning of April 21, one day before he was scheduled to meet with a California doctor in an attempt to kick an addiction to painkillers.