A battle over the estate of the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti appears to be looming following the release of a second will dealing with his American assets.
In his first 'Italian' will, dated June 13 and opened five days after his death on September 7, Pavarotti left 50% of his assets in equal measure to his four daughters: three with his first wife Adua and one with his second wife and widow Nicoletta Mantovani.
Mantovani, who was named executor, was given 25% of the estate and was made the sole administrator and beneficiary of a special fund to contain the remaining 25%, minus one million euros to be split between two of his long-time assistants.
On Monday, a second 'American' will, dated July 29, was opened in which all Pavarotti's assets in the United States were said to have been placed in a New York-registered trust fund administered by Mantovani.
Since these assets were already in a trust fund at the time of his death, by law they were not part of the Pavarotti estate to which the conditions of the first will were applied, Mantovani's lawyers said.
However, lawyers representing the tenor's elder daughters have raised doubts over the legitimacy of the second 'American' will and the time frame in which the New York trust was set up.
The full estate needed to be evaluated in order to determine "whether there has been a serious prejudice against the elder daughters," attorney Fabrizio Corsini told the Italian press.
Mantovani's lawyer Anna Maria Bernini said on Tuesday that Pavarotti's decision to create the trust fund was made months before his June 'Italian' will was drawn up and that she had seen a draft for the fund in May.
The New York fund was registered in the weeks following the second will, Bernini added.
According to Bernini, the 'American' will was an appendix to the first and thus any disputes would have to be handled by a probate court in Pavarotti's home town of Modena, where the first will was registered.
The second will was drawn up in Pesaro, where 'Big Luciano' spent the last months of his life before returning to Modena a month before he died.
Pavarotti's American assets are said to be worth some 15 million euros and include an apartment in New York overlooking Central Park and an extensive art collection with works by Henri Matisse.
Press estimates of Pavarotti's full estate have run from a low of 30 million euros to as much as 200 million euros.
Pavarotti died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.
