In the wake of Bobbi Kristina Brown passing away, six months after being found unconscious in a bathtub in Georgia, the media have begun to ask some interesting questions. One that is being bandied around far and wide is the matter of who gets to pocket Whitney Houston’s fortune, her money having been left in a trust to Bobbi.

In the running for the (estimated) millions is Whitney’s former husband Bobby Brown, with whom she shared a tumultuous and physically abusive relationship. In the other corner we have Whitney’s maternal family, her grandmother and aunt controlling most of Bobbi’s money as dictated by Whitney’s will.

Let’s see USA Today has their money on:

One thing is likely: Many lawyers will be involved.

“It’s going to be a windfall for the lawyers, unfortunately,” says Jerry Reisman, a trusts and estate-law expert and partner at the Long Island firm of Reisman, Peirez, Reisman and Capobianco.

No surprises there really, we didn’t expect Bobby to go down without a fight. Back to that money and how Whitney had stipulated it be dished out in her will:

When Houston died in 2012, her estimated $20 million estate was left to Bobbi Kristina, who was her only child. Houston first drafted her will in 1993, and she amended it in April 2000, but even after that Bobbi Kristina inherited everything — all of Houston’s money, furniture, clothing, cars, including the townhouse in Roswell where she had been living.

The estate was placed in a trust until Bobbi Kristina turned 21, on March 4, 2014. At that time, she received 10% of the estate, or about $2 million. The will dictated that she was to get another sixth of the estate when she turned 25, and the rest at age 30.

So where does all this leave us in the wake of Bobbi’s death then?

Under the terms of the will, [the money] goes to [grandmother] Cissy Houston, and Whitney’s two brothers. Cissy was named executor of the will but renounced the appointment, and a Georgia probate judge later named Whitney’s sister-in-law and manager, Marion (Pat) Houston, as the sole administrator of the estate.

But here’s where the lawyers start to differ and where that long, protracted battle will be fought:

But, says Atlanta estate lawyer Bruce Gaynes, [Bobby] would be entitled to whatever Bobbi Kristina has received so far from her mother’s will.

“For the purposes of Bobbi Kristina’s estate, he is the sole beneficiary, if she has no husband and if she has no will,” says Gaynes, of the Kitchens Kelley Gaynes firm.

There’s also the small matter of Bobbi’s boyfriend Nick Gordon. He claims the two were married, and if he can produce evidence of this he might be entitled to some of the estate as well. There are also rumours that the Houston / Brown family might just pay him money to disappear from their lives, incidents such as THIS not doing their name any good.

Lawyer up everyone, this looks set to be a courtroom battle that will go on for quite some time.

[source:usatoday]