Liam Payne’s ex, singer Cheryl Tweedy, has been named the co-administer his estate alongside his lawyer, months after the One Direction singer died without a will.
Tweedy, who professionally goes by Cheryl, is mother to their 8-year-old son, Bear. The couple were together from 2016 to 2018 and welcomed Bear in 2017, though they never married.
Music industry lawyer Richard Mark Bray was also named a co-administrator of the $32.2 million estate, according to court documents obtained by People and The Guardian.
Payne, 31, fatally fell from the balcony of his third-floor room at a Buenos Aires hotel last October. He had been dating influencer Kate Cassidy for about two years prior to his death, and the two reportedly had plans to marry in the not-so-distant future.
Estate laws in the U.K. dictate that a spouse has first claim when someone dies without a will, followed by any children, The Guardian noted. Former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl, 41, could place the money in trust for Bear, since the children of someone who dies with no spouse or civil partner normally inherit the estate.
Cheryl and Bray have been granted limited representation allowing them “to preserve the deceased’s estate until a general grant is made,” according to BBC News. This means they’ll manage the money under limited authority and cannot distribute it.
Payne held $38 million in money, property and possessions when he died, according to the records, though the value was reduced to $32.2 million once expenses and debts were deducted.
Despite initial reports suggesting Payne jumped to his death, authorities eventually ruled out suicide, determining that he’d accidentally fallen, possibly while trying to escape his room.
A toxicology report revealed cocaine, benzodiazepine, crack and a recreational-drug cocktail known as “pink cocaine” were in Payne’s system at the time of his fatal fall. An autopsy concluded his death was caused by “multiple traumas” and “internal and external bleeding.”
Five people were initially charged in Payne’s death. A hotel employee and a waiter were accused of supplying him with narcotics that led to his fateful plunge from the CasaSur Hotel in the Argentine capital’s Palermo neighborhood. Charges of criminally negligent homicide against the other three — a businessman traveling with Payne, the hotel manager and the main receptionist — were dropped in February.
With News Wire Services
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