# Prince’s Estate: No Will, a $156.4 Million Value, and Six Years of Probate

> Prince died in 2016 without a will. See who inherited, how the IRS and the estate settled on $156.4 million, and why Minnesota probate took six years.

Source: https://ridleylawoffices.com/celebrity-estates/prince-estate/

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated October 2026.

No. Prince died on April 21, 2016, at his Paisley Park home in Carver County, Minnesota, without a will. A Minnesota judge ruled in 2017 that his six siblings were his heirs. The IRS and the estate’s administrator agreed on a $156.4 million value, and a judge approved the deal to close the estate on July 29, 2022, about six years after his death, according to the Associated Press.

![Prince performing on stage at Forest National in Brussels in 1986](/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/prince-estate.jpg)

Prince, 1986. Photo: Yves Lorson / Wikimedia Commons,

[CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

.

## What was Prince’s net worth when he died?

No court record states a net worth at death, but his estate was valued at $156.4 million in the settlement between the IRS and the estate’s administrator, according to the Associated Press in January 2022. Forbes estimated in April 2016, days after he died, that the estate was worth between $150 million and $300 million.

The settled figure is the value the IRS and the estate agreed on for estate tax. The estate then went to the six heirs the court named in 2017, and by the end Primary Wave held about half of its value, the AP reported. A judge approved the deal to close the estate on July 29, 2022.

**6 years**

from death (2016) to court approval of the closing deal (2022)

**$156.4M**

estate value agreed with the IRS (AP, 2022)

**$82.3M**

value in the administrator’s earlier appraisal (AP, 2022)

**45+**

people who filed claims to be a relative or heir (AP, 2017)

**6**

heirs named by the court in 2017 (AP, 2017)

Prince’s estate is the best-known American example of what happens when a wealthy person with no spouse and no children dies without a will. The facts below come from reporting on the court record by the Associated Press, MPR News, Variety, Billboard and Rolling Stone, and from Minnesota statutes.

## Did Prince have a will?

No. Carver County District Judge Kevin Eide declared in 2017 that Prince died without a will, the AP reported.

Five days after Prince’s death, his sister Tyka Nelson filed an emergency petition in Carver County asking the court to appoint a special administrator. In the filing she said she did not know of a will and had no reason to believe he had signed one, according to Variety’s account of the AP report. She asked that Bremer Trust, which had handled Prince’s financial affairs, serve temporarily.

More than a year later the court made it official. In an order made public in May 2017, Judge Eide found that Prince died intestate, the AP reported, and named his heirs. Prince had no spouse and no children, Entertainment Tonight reported, citing Billboard.

## Who inherited Prince’s estate?

The Carver County court named six heirs: Prince’s sister, Tyka Nelson, and five half-siblings, Sharon Nelson, Norrine Nelson, John R. Nelson, Omarr Baker and Alfred Jackson (AP and MPR News, May 2017).

More than 45 people filed claims to be Prince’s wife, children, siblings or other relatives, the AP reported. The court rejected those claims, and some of the rejected claimants appealed. Judge Eide said he would consider any claimant the appeals courts sent back to him.

Minnesota’s intestacy statute decides who inherits when there is no will. Minn. Stat. § 524.2-103 sends the part of the estate that does not go to a spouse first to the decedent’s descendants, then to the parents, then to the descendants of the parents or either of them. Under that structure relatives inherit, and friends and business partners do not, which is why a sister and half-siblings were the heirs.

## Who ran Prince’s estate while it was in court?

A series of court-appointed administrators did, because no will named an executor. Bremer Trust served first as temporary special administrator. In January 2017 Judge Eide named Comerica Bank & Trust as corporate personal representative, effective at the end of that month, MPR News reported.

The judge wrote that Bremer had “walked into personal and corporate mayhem” with records scattered and heirship and money claims about to arrive, MPR News reported in its coverage of the order. He also declined to add a co-personal representative, saying the siblings could not agree on who it should be and that another role would add expense and delay.

Court filings put the estate’s value at close to $200 million in 2017, a figure MPR News said was based on fees paid to the first administrator. The value later settled lower, at $156.4 million.

## How much was Prince’s estate worth?

$156.4 million, the value the IRS and Comerica Bank & Trust agreed to in a settlement reported by the AP in January 2022.

The IRS valued the estate at $163.2 million in 2020. Comerica’s own appraisal was $82.3 million, the AP reported. Comerica sued the IRS in U.S. Tax Court in mid-2020, saying the agency’s calculations were riddled with errors. The settlement came in at about 1.9 times Comerica’s appraisal, and the IRS dropped a $6.4 million accuracy-related penalty. The Minnesota Department of Revenue also dropped an accuracy penalty, according to court filings the AP described.

| Value | Amount | Who |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Estimate days after his death (2016) | $150 million to $300 million | [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2016/04/27/prince-died-without-a-will-what-happens-next/) |
| Administrator’s appraisal | $82.3 million | Comerica Bank & Trust, per the AP |
| Settled value (January 2022) | $156.4 million | IRS and Comerica, accepted by the heirs, per the [AP](https://abcnews4.com/news/entertainment/final-valuation-of-princes-estate-pegged-at-1564-million) |
| IRS value (2020) | $163.2 million | Internal Revenue Service |

The IRS and Comerica settled on the real estate in spring 2021, but valuing intangible assets, such as rights to Prince’s music, took until October 2021, the AP reported. A Tax Court trial set for March 2022 in St. Paul was canceled. Comerica said in a court filing that the settlement was “fair and reasonable” but that it believed it would have prevailed in Tax Court. It also said the heirs had told it they strongly wanted to settle with the taxing authorities.

The AP reported that estate taxes would run into the tens of millions of dollars. It said just over $5 million of the estate was exempt from federal estate tax, with a 40% rate above that, and that Minnesota exempted the first $3 million, with much of the rest likely taxed at 16%. Those were the thresholds for a 2016 death. The federal exemption for 2026 deaths is $15,000,000, according to the [IRS](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/whats-new-estate-and-gift-tax), so a comparison to today’s rules would mislead.

## What happened with Primary Wave?

Primary Wave, a New York music company, bought several heirs’ interests in the estate before it closed. By the end of the case it held about half of the estate’s value, with three of the six heirs and their families holding the rest, according to the AP.

Billboard reported that court papers filed in July 2021 showed how it happened. In March 2020 Primary Wave bought part of Tyka Nelson’s expectancy interest. An April 2021 order confirmed its purchase of all of Alfred Jackson’s interest, and on July 2, 2021 it finished buying all of Omarr Baker’s interest. Billboard, citing the Wall Street Journal, said the company then held 42% of the estate and controlled 50%. The three heirs who did not sell were Sharon, Norrine and John Nelson. L. Londell McMillan, an attorney for those three, said family members who sell are within their rights, Fox Business reported, citing the Star Tribune.

Two of the six heirs died during the case. The AP reported that Alfred Jackson and John R. Nelson had died by January 2022.

## How did Prince’s estate finally close?

At a hearing on Friday, July 29, 2022, Senior Judge Kevin Eide approved a deal to distribute the estate’s assets, saying, “This has been a long road,” according to the AP.

Under the deal, the estate’s cash and holding companies were split evenly between two successor entities, Prince Legacy LLC and Prince Oat Holdings LLC. Each received around $2.8 million in cash and half of the membership units in the estate-owned companies, including NPG Records and Paisley Park Enterprises, the AP reported. Comerica kept a $3 million reserve to pay closing costs, including tax returns and professional fees, and was discharged from its duties and liability as personal representative through the end of a transition period, according to Entertainment Tonight’s summary of the court order.

The AP reported that lawyers and consultants were paid tens of millions of dollars to administer the estate and plan its distribution.

## Timeline of the Prince probate

| Date | Event |
| --- | --- |
| April 21, 2016 | Prince dies at Paisley Park in Carver County, Minnesota |
| April 26, 2016 | Tyka Nelson petitions for a special administrator and says she knows of no will |
| January 2017 | Judge names Comerica Bank & Trust personal representative, replacing Bremer Trust |
| May 2017 | Court finds no will and names six heirs |
| 2020 | IRS values the estate at $163.2 million; Comerica petitions the Tax Court |
| July 2021 | Primary Wave completes its purchase of a second heir’s interest |
| January 2022 | IRS and Comerica settle on $156.4 million |
| July 29, 2022 | Judge approves the deal to distribute assets and close the estate |

## What Minnesota’s will rules say

A Minnesota will must be in writing, signed by the testator, and signed by at least two individuals who witnessed the signing or the testator’s acknowledgment of it (Minn. Stat. § 524.2-502). A later section, § 524.2-503, lets a court treat a document that missed those steps as a will if the proponent shows by clear and convincing evidence that the person intended it as one. By its terms that section applies to documents executed on or after March 13, 2020, so it did not apply to anything Prince could have signed before his death in 2016.

## What this means for your own plan

When there is no plan, much of the process leaves the family’s hands. In Prince’s case the reporting shows this, and I’m not speculating about why he had no will:

- A court picked the administrators, and they changed once.
- State law, not the person’s wishes, set the list of heirs, and more than 45 people tried to get on it.
- Valuing music rights, name and likeness took until October 2021, and the value swung by about $74.1 million between the first appraisal ($82.3 million) and the settlement ($156.4 million).
- The case took six years, and the administration cost tens of millions of dollars in professional fees, according to the AP.
- The filings were public, which is why we know the numbers.

A will names who is in charge and who inherits. A living trust that is actually funded can carry assets to the people you choose without a court case for the assets inside it. California has its own order of heirs if you die without a will, and the [dying without a will page](https://ridleylawoffices.com/dying-without-a-will-california/) and the [intestate succession definition](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-glossary-california/intestate-succession/) walk through it. For the cost and timeline of a California probate, see [what probate costs in California](https://ridleylawoffices.com/guides/probate-costs/) and [how long probate takes](https://ridleylawoffices.com/probate-timeline-california-guide/). For trust funding, see [trust funding in California](https://ridleylawoffices.com/trust-funding/). For large estates and the tax side, see [California estate tax in 2026](https://ridleylawoffices.com/california-estate-tax-planning-2026/).

I can’t say a different plan would have changed what happened to Prince’s estate. If you want to set up your own plan, start with [estate planning at Ridley Law](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning/).

## Related celebrity estates

- [Celebrity Estates: What Famous Wills, Trusts and Probate Fights Teach](https://ridleylawoffices.com/celebrity-estates/)
- [Aretha Franklin’s will: handwritten wills and a Michigan jury](https://ridleylawoffices.com/celebrity-estates/aretha-franklin-will/)
- [Michael Jackson’s estate and the IRS valuation fight](https://ridleylawoffices.com/celebrity-estates/michael-jackson-estate/)
- [Chadwick Boseman’s estate: no will, Los Angeles probate](https://ridleylawoffices.com/celebrity-estates/chadwick-boseman-estate/)

Sources

- Associated Press, “Final valuation of Prince’s estate pegged at $156.4 million,” January 15, 2022, as published by [WCIV](https://abcnews4.com/news/entertainment/final-valuation-of-princes-estate-pegged-at-1564-million).
- Associated Press, “Court approves deal to distribute assets, close Prince’s estate,” July 2022, as published by [KSTP](https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/court-approves-deal-to-distribute-assets-close-princes-estate/) and [KAAL](https://kaaltv.com/?p=16896).
- Associated Press, “Prince’s 6 siblings declared heirs to his estate, judge rules,” May 2017, as published by [10News](https://www.10news.com/news/national/princes-6-siblings-declared-heirs-to-his-estate-judge-rules).
- MPR News, [“Minnesota court confirms 6 Prince heirs, no will,”](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/05/19/prince-estate-minnesota-court-confirms-6-heirs-no-will) May 19, 2017.
- MPR News and Associated Press, [“Comerica Bank appointed to run Prince’s estate,”](https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/01/24/comerica-bank-appointed-to-run-princes-estate) January 24, 2017.
- Variety, [“Prince Had No Will, Sister Says,”](https://variety.com/2016/music/news/prince-no-will-sister-estate-executor-1201760900) April 26, 2016.
- Billboard, [“Primary Wave acquires Prince’s estate share,”](https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9608681/primary-wave-acquires-princes-estate-share-heirs) 2021.
- Rolling Stone, [“Legal Battle Over Prince’s Estate Finally Comes to an End,”](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/prince-estate-value-1285413) August 3, 2022.
- Entertainment Tonight, [“Prince’s $156 Million Estate Settled in Court 6 Years Later,”](https://www.etonline.com/princes-156-million-estate-settled-in-court-6-years-later-188505) August 3, 2022.
- Minnesota Statutes [§ 524.2-103](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/524.2-103), [§ 524.2-502](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/524.2-502) and [§ 524.2-503](https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/524.2-503).
- Internal Revenue Service, [What’s New: Estate and Gift Tax](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/whats-new-estate-and-gift-tax) (2026 basic exclusion amount, $15,000,000).
- [Forbes (Natalie Robehmed), Prince Died Without A Will. What Happens Next To His $150 Million-Plus Estate?](https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2016/04/27/prince-died-without-a-will-what-happens-next/) (2016-04)