Denying marriage claim, justices OK James Brown's dying wish

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — 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 -- weighing 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. The performer’s death touched off years of bizarre headlines, beginning with Hynie being locked out of his 60-acre estate, while photographers captured her sobbing and shaking its iron gates, begging to be let in.

Brown was renowned for hundreds of iconic musical works including hits like “I Feel Good” and “A Man’s World,” and was known around the world for his flashy performances and dynamic stage presence. But years of drug problems and financial mismanagement caused his estate to dwindle.

More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed over the years by people trying to lay claim to what's left, which courts have estimated to be worth anything from $5 million to more than $100 million.

Wednesday’s ruling dealt another blow to a deal brokered by Gov. Henry McMaster who, as South Carolina’s attorney general, stepped in to facilitate a 2009 settlement after Brown’s estate had been floundering in court for years. In 2013, the state’s high court overturned McMaster's settlement, which would have given nearly half the estate to a charitable trust, a quarter to Hynie, and the rest to be split among his adult children.

At the...