In re Estate of Prince

Prince Rogers Nelson died intestate with his birth certificate listing John Nelson as his father based on John's marriage to Prince's mother at the time of Prince's birth; special administrator Tyka Nelson (plaintiff) identified herself and other children of that same couple as Prince's heirs, but five other claimants (defendants) came forward asserting John was not actually Prince's biological father and requesting genetic testing to establish that a different man, in one case their own father, was Prince's true biological father and that they were therefore his half-siblings entitled to inherit. The court agreed with Tyka that Minnesota's paternity presumption based on marriage was unrebuttable for probate purposes and ordered the estate distributed only among descendants of John Nelson or Prince's mother; the claimants appealed.