These Late Stars Have Ongoing Feuds Over Their Estates

The James Brown Estate Was Split Up, But Charity Still Won

Photo by Gianfranco Calcagno/FilmMagic

Eventually, all parties were given some of what they came for. The estate battle was near an end in 2015 when a South Carolina judge decided Hynie’s marital status to Brown.

They discovered that Hynie’s first husband was already married in his home country, so that marriage was automatically voided. Because Brown never went through with the annulment, he and Hynie were married at the time of his death. In the end, Hynie and her son were awarded a quarter of the estate, while another quarter was split among Brown’s adult children. The remaining half went to charity.