JAMES BROWN - BROWN'S WIDOW FEARS SHE'S LOST HOME

LATEST: JAMES BROWN's widow TOMI RAE HYNIE fears she has lost the mansion she has called home for the past decade as part of a shady tax-saving move pulled off by her late husband. Hynie turned up at the South Carolina mansion hours after her husband passed away on Christmas Day (25DEC06) to find the gates of the property padlocked. Now she has discovered the house could be part of a property sale Brown made with his attorney, BUDDY DALLAS, to avoid a tax fine. Speaking to CNN anchor LARRY KING on his TV chat show on Wednesday (03JAN07), she said, "He said he owned the home now because he had bought it. I remember this deal a long time ago. He said he bought it for tax purposes so that my husband wouldn't lose it... (But) me and my five-year-old son lived there. It was our home." "Right now, the family has put it (house) into probate and they are fighting me to get into the house. They are allowing me to go in and remove my belongings. But they will not allow me to go into my home." But DEBRA OPRI, the attorney representing the Brown family, insists Hynie is making a big fuss over a home she has no right to. She says, "The gate was locked. Tomi Rae took a camera crew down there and photographed herself throwing herself at the gate... (but) Tomi Rae's been spending more and more time in LA." Opri states the Brown family hopes to turn the soul star's estate into a museum, much like ELVIS PRESLEY's Graceland home, in accordance with the soul legend's wishes.