It seems Pavarotti's fortune may not be as big as originally thought, and while there are substantial properties in his estate, there is also the matter of about 18 million euros of debts which need to be paid off.
As previously reported, there has been much speculation, especially in the Italian press, regarding the size of the fortune Pavarotti left after his death last month, and also as to whether rumours he changed his will in the last month of his life to his second wife's advantage would lead to a legal challenge by the children of his first marriage.
Italian daily La Repubblica has now reported more details about Pavarotti's finances. It seems that at the time of his death the opera star's bank accounts were 11 million euros overdrawn, which is quite a lot, while there were another 7 million euros of unpaid loans.
In terms of property, all of the singer's US property - three apartments and several paintings worth an estimated 15 million euros - have been put in a trust for his second wife Nicoletta Mantovani and their daughter Alice. His daughters by first wife Adua Veroni are excluded from the trust, but will share an Italian villa and Monte Carlo apartment with Mantovani. It is not clear if any of those properties will need to be sold to pay off the debts.
Representatives of Pavarotti's family continue to deny reports that there is a dispute between his second wife and the daughters of his first marriage, though with the outstanding debts reducing the value of the singer's estate, and with the trust set up right at the end of Pavarotti's life giving so much to Mantovani, many continue to speculate the whole thing will ultimately end up in court.