Brown 'Widow': Wedding Was Legit
James Brown's partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, insists that she was married to the singer, even though his lawyer said Tuesday that the marriage was invalid.
Lawyer Buddy Dallas said Hynie was locked out of the South Carolina home she shared with Brown for legal reasons.
"It's not a reflection on her as an individual," Dallas told The Associated Press. "I have not even been in the house, nor will I until appropriate protocol is followed."
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.
"I showed up and there was six padlocks on the gate, and there was a car parked in front of the padlocks," she told the AP. The guard who was usually very nice to me, who used to work for us, used to give me hugs, and 'Hello Ms. Brown', said 'Ms. Rae, you cannot go in there.' And I said 'Excuse me ... What are you talking in about?'"
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."
Photos: The Godfather Of Soul
Hynie said she was legally married to Brown and had the papers to prove it, adding that the couple had planned to renew their vows but not remarry.
She indicated that even though annulment papers relating to her previous marriage may not have been filed properly at first, a judge had told her that the marriage to Brown was legal.
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. But, Hynie said Brown had sent her to California for a few weeks to relax on the beach after a recent concert tour.
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 said she believes Brown's representatives were trying to discredit her so that his estate wouldn't have to be shared with her.
She acknowledged that the bulk of the estate was left to Brown's children, but said Brown had told her she could live in his home with their child as long as she wanted.
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.