Liam Payne's ex Cheryl Cole has taken control of his $32.2 million estate after the One Direction alum died without leaving a will.
The singer and TV star, with whom Payne shared eight-year-old son Bear, will oversee his estate alongside music industry lawyer Richard Mark Bray, according to court documents obtained by People magazine.
Payne's estate amounted to approximately $32.2 million ($54 million) after debts and expenses, according to the filing.
Cole (also known as Cheryl Tweedy) and Bray have only been granted limited authority to manage the money until a general grant is made, according to court documents viewed by the BBC.
In the meantime, according to the outlet, the Girls Aloud member and the attorney will not be able to distribute any funds from the estate.
Payne died in October at age 31 after falling from a third-story hotel balcony in Argentina.
His cause of death was determined to be multiple traumatic injuries with internal and external hemorrhaging.
A toxicology report showed drugs were in Payne's system when he fell, leading authorities to launch an investigation into his death.
Payne and Cole met when he was just 14 and auditioning for 'The X Factor'. They got together 10 years later, and dated from 2016 to 2018.
