James Brown's Will Being Contested by Children

James Brown's legacy lives on, but this time in a lawsuit from five of his children demanding the charitable trusts he set up in his will to be cashed out and handed over to them. Brown's offspring claim that the trusts were established to enrich the three advisers who helped him set up the trusts, by them earning fees for administering them.

The James Brown "I Feel Good" Trust was established not only to help educate his grandchildren, but to educate impoverished children in South Carolina and Georgia. The bulk of Brown's estate went into the trust, with his children receiving a minor portion of the cash assets, and future earnings from use of his music and likeness are devoted to the trusts.

One of the grandchildren who would benefit from the trust says his relatives are just trying to get their hands on the money.

Brown, a musician whose stormy musical career spanned five decades, and influenced genres as diverse as rock, disco, jazz, and soul, died in 2006 from congestive heart failure at the age of 73. The "Godfather of Soul" influenced virtually every modern genre of music, including pop, soul, jazz, disco, and hip-hop with his complex funk sound, frenetic dance moves, and usually gritty lyrics.

Forbes Magazine estimated that Brown earned $5 million in 2005 alone following his death on Christmas Day, (December 25), 2006. He proclaimed himself "the hardest working man in show business," a moniker that was quite apt, since he performed nearly 51 weeks a year, right up until the last few days of his life.

The five children working together to challenge the will are Deanna Brown Thomas, Venisha Brown, Daryl Brown, Yamma Brown Lumar and Larry Brown. They have hired Atlanta attorney Louis Levenson to represent them. A sixth child named in Brown's will, Terry Brown, has hired a different attorney.

Levenson claims "the circumstances surrounding the making of these documents have always been clouded in mystery."

The children claim that Buddy Dallas, Alford Bradley and David Cannon convinced Brown to set up the trusts for their own benefit, which Dallas soundly denied in an interview with the Associated Press.

"No one told James Brown what to do," Dallas said, adding that if he were going to use his influence to benefit himself, "I would have just influenced him into giving me something."

This is "an act of desperation," Dallas said.