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Case file s353 · Music and sport · 1997
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1997
Michael Hutchence: Michael-hutchence-INXS-1986
Michael Hutchence. Andwhatsnext at English Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
22 November 1997
Place
Ritz-Carlton hotel, Double Bay, Sydney · Australia
Field
rock (INXS) · Music on the timeline
Legal tradition
Australian common law (New South Wales); offshore trusts · Common law
Historical event
Paradise Papers leak, 2017
Music and sportPostwarOceaniaAustralia

Michael Hutchence left half his estate to his baby daughter, and the money went into offshore trusts she did not control

INXS singer Michael Hutchence was found dead in a Sydney hotel room at 37. The coroner ruled suicide in February 1998. His will left half his estate to his 16-month-old daughter, Tiger Lily, and split the rest among his parents, his siblings and her mother, Paula Yates. Yates died of a heroin overdose in September 2000. Bob Geldof took custody of Tiger Lily and adopted her in 2007. Hutchence's estate was estimated at $10 million to $20 million. A 2005 court case showed that his assets sat in offshore trusts run by his lawyer Colin Diamond and others. The Age reported that the estate amounted to almost nothing. Diamond has said Hutchence died penniless. In 2017 the Paradise Papers showed that Diamond had set up a company, Helipad Plain, in Mauritius in 2015 to exploit Hutchence's recordings. Emails at the law firm Appleby described Diamond as beneficial owner and did not mention Tiger Lily. The Hutchence family says what she has received is far below what she is owed.

What the law took from it

A will can only pass what the dead person owns, and assets placed in trusts controlled by advisers may never reach the named heir.

Sources
  1. theage.com.auPress
  2. thenewdaily.com.auPress
  3. pressreader.comPress
  4. BBC NewsPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Michael Hutchence left half his estate to his baby daughter, and the money went into offshore trusts she did not control,” story s353, https://www.celebrity.estate/michael-hutchence-1997, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportPostwarOceaniaCommon lawAustralia