The former One Direction singer, who died in October at age 31, shared 8-year-old son Bear with Cheryl
Liam Payne’s former partner Cheryl has been named the administrator of his $32.2 million estate, seven months after the One Direction singer died without a will.
Court documents issued on May 1 and obtained by PEOPLE officially named Cheryl, with whom Payne shared 8-year-old son Bear, and attorney Richard Mark Bray as the administrators of his estate.
The documents indicate that the gross value of the Payne’s estate in the U.K. amounts to $38 million, and his net value to about $32.2 million. Estates in the U.K. are typically issued to the deceased’s lawful spouse, or if they were not married, to their nearest blood relative.
The BBC reports that Cheryl, 41, and Bray will “manage the money, but they currently have limited authority and cannot distribute it.” The outlet also reported that should someone in the U.K. die without a will, their children will normally inherit the estate if there is no husband, wife or civil partner.
Cheryl and Payne, who fell from his hotel balcony in Argentina and died in October, dated from 2016 to 2018, and welcomed their son in 2017.
Cheryl issued a rare public statement upon Payne’s death that described the loss as an “earth shattering event,” and asked fans to remember “that we have lost a human being.”
Recommended Article
“Liam was not only a pop star and celebrity, he was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and a father to our 7 year old son. A son that now has to face the reality of never seeing his father again,” she wrote, in part. “Please give Liam the little dignity he has left in the wake of his death to rest in some peace at last.”
Payne had been dating influencer Kate Cassidy for about two years at the time of his death.
“I’m still working on accepting the fact that he’s not here anymore, so it’s hard for me to refer to him in the past tense,” she said in a March interview on the U.K. morning show Lorraine. “When I do refer to him in the past tense, it almost stings that little bit more. I never would have thought that I would be talking about him in the past tense, so it’s definitely really hard to accept.”
The “Strip That Down” singer’s sister, Ruth Gibbins, paid tribute to the star with an emotional Instagram post in April that marked six months since his death.
“I can sometimes hear you laughing at me walking around like Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, looking for you everywhere I go,” she wrote. “I see you, though, you’re always coming through in different ways to put me back on the right path. I can’t process what’s happened and the finality of it, you know I will never stop doing all I can for you. I miss you loudly, quietly and in all the moments in between.”
