One Direction’s Liam Payne left a S$41.9-million estate and no will, reports say

British singer-songwriter Liam Payne poses on the red carpet on arrival for the BRIT Awards 2019 in London on Feb. 20, 2019. Image: Tolga Akmen/AFP

LONDON – Late British singer Liam Payne, the former One Direction boy band member who died after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, left an estate worth 24.3 million pounds (S$41.9 million or P1.8 billion), but had not written a will before his death, according to British news outlets.

Payne’s former partner, Cheryl Tweedy, will be an administrator of his wealth and property, the BBC and The Guardian reported on Wednesday, May 7.

Tweedy, 41, is the mother of Payne’s 8-year-old son and a former member of the pop group Girls Aloud. She shares oversight of the estate with a music industry lawyer but neither may distribute the wealth, the BBC said.

Payne died in October 2024 at the age of 31, after falling from a third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Palermo Hotel while in Argentina. A toxicology report found he had cocaine, alcohol and a prescription antidepressant in his system at the time of death. A statement from local prosecutors after the death suggested that it was not a suicide because of the determination that he fell in a state of unconsciousness.

After an investigation, Argentine authorities charged three people with negligent homicide. Those charges, against a friend of Payne’s and two employees at the hotel where he died, were later dropped.

A CasaSur Palermo Hotel employee and a local waiter are still accused of supplying narcotics to Payne in the days leading up to his death. The charge they face carries a sentence of four to 15 years in prison. NYTIMES  /ra