It doesn’t look like the will John Singleton had drawn up is going to settle the bickering between his family over the filmmaker’s $35 million estate.
Singleton died on April 29 in Los Angeles, nearly two weeks after he fell into a coma. He had a total of seven children, and the fighting over his assets began in the last few days of his life.
On Friday Singleton’s mother Sheila Ward filed the will in probate court, and it was revealed that he left everything to his eldest child, daughter Justice Singleton.
That’s because the will was drafted in 1993 when Justice was his only child and it didn’t mention his other children at all. TMZ noted that since Singleton didn’t specifically exclude his other six children in the will, they’re in a legal position to still get a piece of his estate.
Ward is the executor of the will and listed her son’s assets as $3.8 million in legal documents. It’s expected that Singleton put the other $31 million in a trust, so the will itself won’t determine who actually gets what.
So now Singleton’s other children could lawyer up and try to get some of the money left to Justice. They could also contest the trust if they don’t like how the $31 million will be distributed. Ward also could put up a legal fight in order to get some of that money.
Reports of bickering between family members came when Ward tried to become Singleton’s conservator, which was challenged by his daughter Cleopatra, who also denied that her father was in a coma when reports first surfaced.
Cleopatra also accused her grandmother of trying to keep all of her father’s assets and block out the rest of the family.
Singleton’s estranged father is said to be looking for his cut as well, as is the late filmmaker’s girlfriend.
