There has been much speculation about the value, or lack thereof, of Whitney Houston's estate before and after her death. It now seems that several industry insiders have all but confirmed that she was heavily indebted to Sony and didn't have a dime to dance on.
These insiders claim that Ms. Houston had borrowed funds against her recording contract going all the way back to 2001. And at the time of her death was only able to support her lifestyle from a $1.2 million dollar loan provided to her from Sony. A loan that will indeed need to be paid back before any royalties would ever be distributed to her heirs. In fact, even with a boost in album sales due to her death, it still could not payoff for many years to come.
There are also reports that her estate simply does not have the kind of professional estate managers that were needed in order to secure certain recording rights. And this lack of management to coordinate with agents, label executives, and marketing depts. further hindered massive revenue opportunities for her estate.
So, according to all these sources, it would certainly appear that Whitney absolutely did not have adequate estate litigation in place and that is going to cost her heirs millions of dollars.
Do not make the same mistake with your estate, contact a professional estate litigation Attorney as soon as possible.
*This blog entry was not written by an Attorney and should not be constituted as professional legal advice.