Brown's child 'left out of will'

The five-year-old son of singer James Brown and his partner Tomi Rae Hynie is not included in the will read to six of the entertainer’s children, lawyers for the Godfather of Soul say.

While the will provides for six children, Hynie’s son, James Jr, is not one of those listed in the document, lawyer Strom Thurmond told The Associated Press.

The will was read yesterday in Aiken, South Carolina, but had not been filed in probate court, said Buddy Dallas, another Brown lawyer.

Brown, 73, died on Christmas morning.

The gates to his home were locked soon after his death, Dallas said, until lawyers could get the estate’s legal affairs in order.

The house is owned by the trust and “has been that way since August of 2000”, Dallas said. “Technically, the trustees own it for the benefit of the trust. It was not in the name of James Brown and hasn’t been that way for years.”

Hynie’s lawyer, Thornton Morris, said he did not know anything about the will.

“She was locked out of the house so she doesn’t know where the will that’s being probated was found,” Morris said of his client.

“She has no knowledge to when this particular will was executed.”