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Case file s537 · Music and sport · 2021
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2021
Died
9 April 2021
Place
White Plains, New York · United States
Field
hip-hop · Music on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (New York); intestacy · Common law
Historical event
Def Jam's late-1990s hip-hop dominance
Music and sportDied without a willNowNorth AmericaUnited States
AI illustration: A probate court file on a desk in White Plains, New York, 2021
Illustration made with AI for celebrity.estate.

DMX died without a will, leaving 15 children, a fiancée the court would not recognize, and an estate valued under $1 million

DMX, born Earl Simmons, died at 50 after a heart attack. He left no will. Under New York intestacy law his legal children inherit equally. Rival petitions reached the Westchester County Surrogate's Court within weeks. Daughters Sasha Simmons and Jada Oden filed on 10 May 2021 and valued the estate at under $50,000. Sons Xavier, Tacoma and Sean filed on 21 May and valued it at under $1 million. His fiancée, Desiree Lindstrom, mother of his youngest son Exodus, asked to be named administrator and to be recognized as his common-law wife. New York does not recognize common-law marriages formed in the state, and both requests were denied. In October 2021 Judge Helen Blackwood appointed the three eldest sons temporary co-administrators. Estate attorney Herb Nass said everyone claiming to be a child would have to prove paternity by DNA, and that all legal children would take equal shares. The number of claimed children reached 15†.

What the law took from it

A father of many children by many mothers who dies intestate leaves the estate to DNA tests and a surrogate's court.

Sources
  1. xxlmag.comPress
  2. blackenterprise.comPress
  3. bet.comPress
  4. revolt.tvPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “DMX died without a will, leaving 15 children, a fiancée the court would not recognize, and an estate valued under $1 million,” story s537, https://www.celebrity.estate/dmx-died-without-a-will-leaving-2021, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportDied without a willNowNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States