<font size="5"><center>
Brown's Partner Denied Access to Home</font size></center>
Music legend James Brown arrives with his wife Tomi Rae Brown
for the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in this Feb. 13, 2005 file
photo in Los Angeles. Brown's widow said Monday, Dec. 25,
2006, she was denied access to the home she shared with
the singer and their 5-year-old son when she returned home
hours after her husband died of heart failure, claiming the gate
was padlocked at the request of Brown's lawyer and accountant.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
Dec 26, 1:43 PM (ET)
Associated Press
By HARRY R. WEBER
ATLANTA (AP) - James Brown's lawyer said Tuesday that the late singer and his partner were not legally married and that she was locked out of his South Carolina home for estate legal reasons.
"It's not a reflection on her as an individual," lawyer Buddy Dallas told The Associated Press. "I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed."
Brown's partner, backup singer Tomi Rae Hynie, was already married to a Texas man in 2001 when she married Brown, thus making her marriage to Brown null, Dallas said. He said Hynie later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown never remarried.
"I suppose it would mean she was, from time to time, a guest in Mr. Brown's home," Dallas said.
On Monday, after the 73-year-old "Godfather of Soul" died at an Atlanta hospital, Hynie, 36, found the gates to Brown's Beech Island, S.C., home padlocked and said she was denied access.
Hynie argued that she has a legal right to live in the home with the couple's 5-year-old son.
"This is my home," Hynie told a reporter outside the house. "I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go."
Dallas said legal formalities need to be followed now, adding that Brown's estate was left in trust for his children. He declined to elaborate on Brown's final instructions.
"It's not intended and I hope not interpreted to be an act of unkindness or an act of a lack of sympathy," Dallas said. "Ms. Hynie has a home a few blocks away from Mr. Brown's home where she resides periodically when she is not with Mr. Brown. She is not without housing or home."
Dallas said Brown and Hynie had not seen each other for several weeks before his death.
The couple had had a sometimes tumultuous relationship. Brown pleaded guilty in 2004 to a domestic violence charge stemming from an argument with Hynie and was let off with a $1,087 fine. He was accused of pushing Hynie to the floor at the home and threatening to kill her.
Hynie could not be reached Tuesday for further comment. A lawyer who has represented her in the past, Robert Rosen, was out of the country and could not be reached, according to a receptionist in his Charleston, S.C., office.
Hynie's cell phone wasn't accepting incoming messages Tuesday, but had an outgoing message that said in part, "James, if this is you, I'm in a meeting and I will call you back when I get out. Thank you so much for calling. Happy holidays."
Brown, whose classic singles included "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)," died of heart failure less than two days after he had been hospitalized with pneumonia, his agent said. Funeral details had not been set Tuesday morning.
http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20061226/D8M8MR000.html
Brown's Partner Denied Access to Home</font size></center>
Music legend James Brown arrives with his wife Tomi Rae Brown
for the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in this Feb. 13, 2005 file
photo in Los Angeles. Brown's widow said Monday, Dec. 25,
2006, she was denied access to the home she shared with
the singer and their 5-year-old son when she returned home
hours after her husband died of heart failure, claiming the gate
was padlocked at the request of Brown's lawyer and accountant.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
Dec 26, 1:43 PM (ET)
Associated Press
By HARRY R. WEBER
ATLANTA (AP) - James Brown's lawyer said Tuesday that the late singer and his partner were not legally married and that she was locked out of his South Carolina home for estate legal reasons.
"It's not a reflection on her as an individual," lawyer Buddy Dallas told The Associated Press. "I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed."
Brown's partner, backup singer Tomi Rae Hynie, was already married to a Texas man in 2001 when she married Brown, thus making her marriage to Brown null, Dallas said. He said Hynie later annulled the previous marriage, but she and Brown never remarried.
"I suppose it would mean she was, from time to time, a guest in Mr. Brown's home," Dallas said.
On Monday, after the 73-year-old "Godfather of Soul" died at an Atlanta hospital, Hynie, 36, found the gates to Brown's Beech Island, S.C., home padlocked and said she was denied access.
Hynie argued that she has a legal right to live in the home with the couple's 5-year-old son.
"This is my home," Hynie told a reporter outside the house. "I don't have any money. I don't have anywhere to go."
Dallas said legal formalities need to be followed now, adding that Brown's estate was left in trust for his children. He declined to elaborate on Brown's final instructions.
"It's not intended and I hope not interpreted to be an act of unkindness or an act of a lack of sympathy," Dallas said. "Ms. Hynie has a home a few blocks away from Mr. Brown's home where she resides periodically when she is not with Mr. Brown. She is not without housing or home."
Dallas said Brown and Hynie had not seen each other for several weeks before his death.
The couple had had a sometimes tumultuous relationship. Brown pleaded guilty in 2004 to a domestic violence charge stemming from an argument with Hynie and was let off with a $1,087 fine. He was accused of pushing Hynie to the floor at the home and threatening to kill her.
Hynie could not be reached Tuesday for further comment. A lawyer who has represented her in the past, Robert Rosen, was out of the country and could not be reached, according to a receptionist in his Charleston, S.C., office.
Hynie's cell phone wasn't accepting incoming messages Tuesday, but had an outgoing message that said in part, "James, if this is you, I'm in a meeting and I will call you back when I get out. Thank you so much for calling. Happy holidays."
Brown, whose classic singles included "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)," died of heart failure less than two days after he had been hospitalized with pneumonia, his agent said. Funeral details had not been set Tuesday morning.
http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20061226/D8M8MR000.html