MINNEAPOLIS _ Details of Prince's 2006 divorce will be made public, despite objections from his ex-wife.
Hennepin County District Judge Thomas Fraser ruled Monday to unseal filings related to Prince's divorce from Manuela Testolini, granting a Star Tribune request to access the documents.
Prince, who died April 21 of an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl, married Testolini in 2001.
Star Tribune attorney Leita Walker argued at an Aug. 4 hearing that common law and the First Amendment supported the request to unseal the documents. Testolini's attorney, Curtis Smith, argued that the Star Tribune should have asked for the documents to be unsealed at the time of the divorce in 2006. He added that Testolini, who now lives in California, could suffer harassment if the documents were made public.
Testolini and Bremer Trust, the special administrator managing Prince's multimillion-dollar estate, will have 30 days to bring public motions regarding specific documents in the divorce filing. Otherwise, everything _ with the exception of certain confidential details _ will be unsealed.
