Appeals court affirms rejection of 5 would-be Prince heirs

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota Court of Appeals says a lower court correctly rejected five people who claimed to be heirs of the late rock superstar Prince.

The appeals court ruled Tuesday that the judge overseeing Prince 's estate case properly applied state parentage law when it barred the five people from claiming shares of Prince's estate.

Judge Kevin Eide declared in May that Prince had no will when he died in April 2016 of an accidental painkiller overdose, and that six surviving siblings are his legal heirs. He ruled earlier that John L. Nelson and Mattie Shaw were presumed to be Prince's parents since they were married when he was born.

The five who were rejected claimed that Nelson wasn't really Prince's father, and that they were his half-siblings through other men.