Luciano Pavarotti Died With Heavy Debts

Mon, 22 October 2007 22:30:08 ET

Deceased opera singer Luciano Pavarotti owes about 5 million pounds and possibly more, leaving his family to pay that.

Luciano Pavarotti's family have been left with 12 million pounds of debts. The passing of the opera singer - who died last month, aged 71, after a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer - had sparked a row between his three daughters and his second wife over his estimated 200 million pounds fortune.

But bank records have now revealed the Three Tenors star owed over 5 million pounds on his homes in New York, Monte Carlo and North Italy, as well as having a 7 million pounds overdraft at the Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank in Bologna.

Fabrizo Corsini, the lawyer representing Pavarotti's three daughters from his first marriage - Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana - said he would be examining bank statements and documents in detail to find out exactly how much the late singer owed. He said: "We never imagined Pavarotti would owe so much. We have received the paperwork and we are going through it with a fine toothcomb to see what exactly he had or didn't have."

Notary official Giorgio Cariani added: "We are just at the beginning of the inventory. The paperwork we have gone through is only a small part and it will take us several weeks yet to complete the work."

Now his depleted fortune will be split between his remaining family – with 5 million pounds going to his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and 1.25 million pounds going to each of his four daughters.

Giorgio Bernini, the lawyer for Nicoletta - who had a four-year-old daughter, Alice with the singer - said: "The fact that the maestro had debts is no secret to anyone. In the final years of his life he cut back on his performances and he also had very expensive hospital bills to pay."

Pavarotti's US will leaves his New York apartment and an original Henri Matisse painting to 37-year-old Nicoletta, and Alice. He also had 14 million pounds in liquid assets in stocks, shares and cash in banks around the world.

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