MINNEAPOLIS — (CNN) You know that vault Prince supposedly left behind in Paisley Park?
It exists, Prince’s half-brother, Alfred Jackson, told CNN. He doesn’t know what’s inside, but if it’s music, he wants the world to hear it.
But that may not be up to him.
At 9:30 a.m. ET on Monday, Prince’s family will attend a probate hearing to determine what happens to everything that the music icon left behind.
A source with first hand knowledge of the discussions about Prince’s estate said the initial meeting between the siblings was contentious and ended in shouting. Neither Jackson nor his attorney would say who exploded in anger, except to note that it was not Jackson.
Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson — his only full sibling — has filed legal documents that claim the late superstar did not have a will. Without one, Minnesota law states that his estate would go to his sister and his half-siblings.
They would control his brand, including Prince’s NPG record label and thousands of unreleased songs. Prince’s net worth was believed to be about $300 million, according to various estimates.
Dividing up all those assets could get messy, according to CNN Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos.
“It’s one thing to divvy up dollars among six people, but how do you divide a guitar collection, or ‘Purple Rain,’ or an unfinished piece of music, among heirs? And what if they don’t agree on how to use or sell those things?”
For example: What if they can’t decide on whether or not Prince wanted his unreleased songs to be heard by the public?
His former manager told The Guardian last year that Prince said he one day planned on burning everything in the aforementioned vault, which was rumored to have enough music to release one album every year for the rest of the century.
But in an interview with “The View” in 2012, Prince said that the reason he was holding on to the music was because there was just so much of it.
“One day, someone will release them,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll get to release them.”
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