Judge Sides With John Singleton’s Mom in Family War Over Late Director’s $6 Million Estate
Dec. 7 2023, Published 11:40 a.m. ET
John Singleton’s mother shut down the Late Boyz N The Hood director’s ex and daughter in their bitter court battle over his fortune.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, this week, a hearing was held in Los Angeles Superior Court where the family members faced off.
Singleton left behind millions.
Following the director’s death in 2019, his mother Sheila Ward was appointed to administer of her late son’s estate. The beneficiaries of the estate are Singleton’s 7 children — Justice, Selenesol, Hadar, Massai, Cleopatra, Isis, and Seven.
In July, Ward said she had handled all outstanding matters and submitted her final report to the court. She revealed the estate was worth an estimated $6.8 million and the money would be split between Singleton’s children.
A couple of weeks later, Singleton’s daughter Cleopatra and her mother Vestria Barlow opposed the final report.
Barlow filed a $15 million federal lawsuit against Ward and various studios. She claimed to have worked with Singleton on projects since 1998.
She said she was owed 7-10% of all residuals owed to Singleton for Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, Woo, Rosewood, Shaft, Baby Boy, Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan, and many others. She said she even worked on his hit show Snowfall.
Cleopatra and her mother demanded the court allow additional time to investigate the matter. Recently, the $15 million lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge for being brought in the wrong venue.
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Now, at the recent hearing, the court presiding over the probate case granted Ward’s petition seeking approval of her final report.
The court said Ward has permission to distribute the estate to the beneficiaries — meaning the children will be receiving around $1 million each. They will continue to receive money over time as the estate collects residuals from Singleton’s work.
The judge said the objections to the report were “untimely filed.”
As we previously reported, in her petition, Ward revealed Singleton’s assets included boxes of comic books, a massive movie memorabilia collection, a Los Angeles home, a 1999 Lexus, a 2003 Mercedes Benz, and a 2012 sailboat.
Singleton owned expensive comic book art including a piece of Wolverine worth $15k and another of Peter Parker with Mary Jane worth $10k
In addition, the estate owned a 70% interest in Crunk Pictures and owned New Deal Productions. The companies are worth an estimated $3.2 million.
His other assets included a retirement account holding $1.1 million and $31k in the bank. His company also owned personal property including a painting of Tupac worth $75k and the $50k lowrider used by Tyrese in Singleton’s film Baby Boy.