Bob Marley's Probate Court

Bob Marley died in May 1981 without an estate plan detailing how he wanted his assets to be distributed to his family, friends or associates. His assets were distributed according to Jamaican law rather than his specific wishes.

Part of this situation included the courts evicting his Mother from her home in Miami so it could be distributed as part of his entire estate. Bob had purchased the home for his Mother as a gift and the home was in his name. So when he passed it became part of his estate.

His estate was divided according to Jamaican probate courts but many lawsuits were initiated against his Zion Rootswear, his family and the estate in the U.K., U.S. and Jamaica.

Marley’s fortune was finally settled late in 1991. The Jamaican Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rita Marley and Chris Blackwell’s Island Logic Ltd., a company that had controlled the estate since 1989. Under the terms of the court ruling, the estate would be managed by Island Logic for ten more years before passing into the hands of Marley’s widow and his 11 legally recognized children.

Also see:

Black and white photo of Bob Marley and Soccer Teammates

According to the CaribbeanNationalWeekly.com, “Marley’s widow, Rita, became locked in a ten-year battle with the court-appointed administrator of the estate, a conservative lawyer who had not liked Marley when he was alive and who, after the singer’s death, sometimes seemed bent on taking as much as possible from those who had been closest to the deceased. The administrator attempted to evict Marley’s mother from a house her son had given her—on the grounds that the title had never been legally transferred; in a similar fashion, he tried to have property seized from Rita and accused her of illegally diverting royalty money that should have become part of the contested estate.”

https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/uncategorized/day-history-bob-marleys-estate-settled-court-left-family/

Family Trust Consultation

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.