James Brown memorabilia auction put on hold as heirs feud

If you were hoping to head over to Christie's to bid on James Brown's hair curlers, furniture, stage outfits, and used hairspray bottles, don't book the flight just yet.

The New York Times reports that the Godfather of Soul's infighting heirs still can't get it together. The godfather of soul was a hard-livin' man (see mugshot at right) with several wives, many children, and some grandchildren of questioned parentage. And the estate got complicated too, with a revolving door of trustees accusing each other of mismanaging the estate.

The Christie's auction was scheduled for this coming Thursday but, on Wednesday, a South Carolina judge approved a request for an emergency stay by two former business managers, Albert H. Dallas and Alfred A. Bradley (who had been replaced after they were accused of mismanaging the estate). They say that the current trustees are messing things up.

If you want the details, check out the Times piece -- it's too convoluted to go into here. What does this have to do with personal finance? Very simple: unless you want your estate to resemble James Brown's hair in the picture above, make sure that you have your stuff together.