Brown to be buried in mausoleum

Nearly three weeks after James Brown's funeral, the Godfather of Soul is yet to be buried and his former partner is contesting his will in a bid to receive half of his estate.

The singer's body is being kept in a temperature-controlled room at his home in South Carolina in the bronze and gold-plated coffin used for his funeral in Augusta, Georgia, on December 30, funeral director Charlie Reid said today.

Apparently, the family is building a mausoleum at the home on Beech Island and will bury Brown when it is finished, probably next month. A lawyer involved in the case said the burial would probably attract thousands.

His partner Tomi Rae Hynie Brown received nothing when Brown's will was read out last week but will sue for 50% of his estate with a further seventh of the remainder to go to the child they had together, according to newspaper reports quoting her lawyer.

However, lawyers for James Brown say she was never legally married to him because a previous marriage between her and another man had not been annulled.