The untimely death of pop music icon Whitney Houston just before this year's televised Grammy awards barely allowed time for other musicians to rehearse musical tributes to her. For some fans who closely followed the singer's troubled final years, however, speculation soon began about whether her demise would be closely followed by estate litigation over the disposition of her assets.

There were widespread rumors, sometimes denied, that she was broke, or close to it, despite a string of prior best-selling recordings, appearances in popular movies such as "The Bodyguard" with co-star Kevin Costner, and a range of endorsements and celebrity kudos. Whatever the truth about the state of her finances at the time of her death, her status as a celebrity is likely to mean the swift accumulation of perhaps previously unanticipated assets in her estate,

Already, there are reports of surging sales of her musical recordings being snapped up by fans nostalgic for remembrances of her legacy, and saddened to realize that there will never again be new songs with her voice. Just as it has happened in the case of many popular musicians of the past, such as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendricks, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Roy Orbison, or Johnny Cash, death may launch a frantic search through the vaults for previously unreleased recordings.

Such blasts from the past have traditionally sold extremely well, with some of these artists selling far more recordings after their death than they ever imagined that they would while alive. The heirs to Whitney Houston's estate, whose identity is still unclear, may face diminishment of the royalties from this newfound bounty by either income or estate tax, depending on how careful Whitney Houston and her advisors were in estate planning.

Source: Greenwich Times, "7-vehicle pileup among icy traffic chaos in Greenwich," Frank MacEachern, Feb. 12, 2012