The Godfather of Soul’s dying wish to help educate needy children is a big step closer to being fulfilled, now that South Carolina’s Supreme Court — wading into a 14-year-old legal saga yet again — has ruled that James Brown’s last partner was not legally married to him.
In an unanimous ruling on Wednesday, the state’s justices wrote that Tomi Rae Hynie, a former partner of Brown’s who claimed to be his wife, failed to annul a previous marriage, and therefore did not have a right to his multimillion-dollar estate.
Brown’s union with Hynie has long been the center of the evolving legal troubles following his death at the age of 73 on Christmas Day 2006.
Read more on etcanada.com