The estate of the late-songstress Whitney Houston (pictured) is allegedly claiming in a Morris County, N.J., court that a company it hired to sell her home changed the locks and chained the gates, thereby denying anyone access to the property. According to court documents, Houston’s personal property cannot be retrieved and now Marion Houston, Whitney’s manager, sister-in-law, and executor of the estate, who hired the defendants CPMG Mendham LLC and Diego Cevallo back in December of last year to sell the property is suing them, reports Courthouse News.
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According to Marion, the deal she made was solely for the sale of the house and not its contents that numerous family members have strong emotional attachment to. The home contains a baby grand piano, jukebox, pricey works of art, furnishings, and other cherished items. In addition, the complaint states, “Some of these items have considerable financial value and would hold particular financial value to Ms. Houston’s fans and other collectors because they belonged to Ms. Houston,” according to the 11-page court document.
Wells Fargo is the alleged mortgage holder of the Whitney’s Mendham, N.J., 12,651-square-foot, five-bedroom, and four-bathroom mansion that sold in February of this year for reportedly just under $1 million. Despite several attempts to enter the residence to collect Whitney’s belongings — with the last two attempts being made in March by Marion — the complaint states, “Defendants have repeatedly refused to allow the Estate to enter the property and recover the personality.”
According to Marion, the property’s barriers were allegedly set in place “even before the Estate was notified that the sale was finally approved by Wells Fargo. A representative of the Estate arrived at the property with movers, a moving van, and a truck to begin removing the personality and found that the gate had been chained and the locks on the house changed.”
Whitney’s home served as the setting of her wedding to R&B crooner Bobby Brown, which was attended by 700 revelers. Brown is reportedly not part of the lawsuit; he and Whitney divorced back in 2007.
The estate is reportedly seeking damages for conversion and wants an injunction to prevent the defendants “from transferring, concealing, disposing, selling, using, encumbering or otherwise exercising dominion and control over the personalty.”
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