All Articles Tagged "james brown children"
What Was She Thinking? James Brown’s Daughter Arrested for Car Theft And Assault
Source: eurweb.com
When James Brown was alive, he had several brushes with the law. Now, the music legend’s daughter, Venisha Brown, is proving that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. She is being held in Richmond County jail after being accused of stealing a vehicle in Augusta and injuring her boss outside a bank in Augusta, GA.
The Augusta Chronicle reports:
Venisha is being charged with theft by taking a motor vehicle in Richmond County and is being held for North Augusta authorities, Richmond County sheriff’s Investigator Billy Dixon said Tuesday.
North Augusta Public Safety has issued warrants against Brown for possession of a stolen vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident and first-degree assault and battery.
Police were called to the intersection of West and Pine Grove avenues in North Augusta about 9 a.m. Monday, where they found Hope Ellis Campbell, 46, of Grovetown, with injuries.
Campbell told officers she had spotted her employee, Brown, in a Chevrolet Suburban stolen from St. Stephen Ministries on Greene Street on Sunday and was trying to gain control of the vehicle when she was injured.
Campbell told officers that she reached into the sport utility vehicle to take the keys but that Brown accelerated, dragging Campbell into and over the hood of another vehicle parked near the Suburban.
Richmond County deputies recovered the SUV about 1 a.m. Tuesday at 13th Street and Walton Way.
About two hours later, deputies were called to an altercation in the 500 block of Broad Street, where they found Brown arguing with another woman.
The Godfather of Soul died in 2006, and he didn’t leave any money to his six or more children. He was never close to his kids and reportedly was adamant that they wouldn’t benefit from his fortune when he died. Instead, he wanted all of the money to pay for education for poor kids. However, his will was bitterly contested in court and, in 2009, a settlement was reached which reportedly awarded some money to his wives and children. It’s not clear how much Venisha received, if anything. Regardless, times can’t be that tough that she would steal a car from a ministry that serves the low income and homeless HIV/AIDS community. What a shame.
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The Estate Woes of James Brown: A Lesson in Planning
by Selam Aster
Even though the late, great James Brown has “at least” nine children and was married at the time of his death on Christmas in 2006, he set up his will so that no one in his family inherited his money. Instead, he designated that all his money should go towards a trust to help poor and needy children, according to a report that appeared in Forbes today.
Now, you can imagine what his family had to say about Brown giving away his $100 million fortune, right?
Indeed, since his passing, lawyer and court fees have been steadily eating away at Brown’s fortune as his large family is continuing to contest his wishes on the grounds that he was mentally unfit to make that decision. Unfortunately, Brown’s associate and former producer Jacqueline Hollander is countering the family’s wishes to get a piece of the pie, claiming that his will made it crystal clear what he wanted to do with his fortune and that was clearly not to pass it along to his family. Hollander says she even has Brown on video stating that he wanted his money to go towards poor children. Hollander was to administer that trust.
In any case, it should be noted that Brown had not updated his will in the five years that he was married to Tomi Rae Hynie, to whom he was married at the time of his death. This fact, along with the assumption that it was hard for courts to fully believe Brown’s wishes to deprive his whole family, led to a decision in 2009 by the attorney general of South Carolina, allocating 50% of the estate to Brown’s family, with the rest remaining with the children’s trust.
Well, two of Brown’s former trustees are contesting this decision, on strong ground that his will was very clear. The case is now with the South Carolina Supreme Court.
What’s the lesson here: if you’re wealthy and have a lot of family to handle, make sure you consistently update your will. It’s hard to believe that Brown, at his age and with his wealth and with his ex-wives and with his many children, did not pay more attention to updating his will.
