Ray Price Artifacts and Masters Could Be In Jeopardy in Estate Dispute
The estate of Country Music Hall of Famer Ray Price is currently locked in a contentious legal battle, and the outcome could have ramifications upon the ownership of his music masters, and many of the artifacts that help tell the story of his legendary career.
The dispute is between Ray Price’s wife of 45 years—Janie Mae Price, who married Ray on June 11, 1970 after Ray divorced his first wife—and Ray Price’s son from his first marriage, Clifton “Cliff” Price. Ray Price passed away on December 16th, 2013 at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.
Though a probate dispute over the Ray Price estate had long been rumored, both parties kept the court battle out of the public eye until Janie Price recently began to address the issue on the official Ray Price Facebook page.
Janie Price first posted about the issue on September 21st, 2016 in a long letter to Ray Price fans. The letter stated in part,
It is with reluctance and a sad, sad heart that I come to you. As you know, Ray Price and I have always kept our private lives and affairs very private. An event beyond my control has occurred. PERSONAL INFORMATION has been leaked. Our practice has always been to come directly to you, THE RAY PRICE FANS and inform you first.
My COURT BATTLE began when a GUARDIANSHIP LAWSUIT was filed by an unscrupulous lawyer in an attempt to steal everything from Ray and me before Ray died. Without following the legal Rule Of Law, our County Judge Approved and Granted Guardianship. He appointed a Guardian Ad Litem over Ray. This man actually walked into our hospital room with these documents and announced that he was there to remove Ray from the care of his Specialist and me and take him to some undisclosed location. Ray’s medical care would not be under a medical doctor but under a nurse practitioner, also appointed by the Judge. Ray’s wonderful and caring Doctor who was present, told this man that he was in charge of Ray Price’s medical care and NO ONE would be taking Ray anywhere.
This lawsuit was dismissed BUT a new Lawsuit Contesting Ray’s Will was filed by the same HEARTLESS ATTORNEY at 7:58 AM the morning after my Dear Husband passed away! I was thrown into a vicious legal Battle BEFORE I COULD EVEN PLAN RAY’S FUNERAL SERVICE.
Court documents from the probate court in Titus County, Texas obtained by Saving Country Music show that on December 17th, 2013—the day after Ray Price passed away—Cliff Price filed an application for probate of the Ray Price will. Janie Price responded formally to the court on December 30th in opposition.
This set into motion a protracted legal battle where among other things, the possessions of the Ray Price estate were ordered to be inventoried for potential liquidation. After many delays, the inventory was finally taken and received by the court in August of 2015.
“I am devastated to tell you that A Texas Statutory Probate Judge appointed a Receiver over the Entire Janie Price Estate, with power to Take Control Of, Take Possession Of, and The Sale Of ALL ASSETS,” Janie Price said in her Facebook post on September 21st, 2016. “He has already removed from my home All Of the Ray Price Master Recording Tapes and Ray’s entire Gun Collection. My attorney is shocked and in disbelief.”
Court documents show that in September 2016, Janie Price formally appealed the Statutory Probate Judge’s ruling against her, and in favor of Cliff Price to the 6th Court of Appeals in Texarkana, where the case is awaiting to be formally heard. Meanwhile the Ray Price estate, including his song masters and other important assets, remains in limbo.
Janie Price also posted other more recent updates on the court battle via the Ray Price Facebook page, but it appears all of her posts pertaining to the court battle were taken down on October 12th. Janie spoke in depth about the inherent unfairness of “the Texas Probate Guardianship and Receivership Laws” and how they’re used “to rob the entire estates of Both The Deceased Person and The Surviving Widow and Family.”
However in her multiple posts, Price never mentions that the plaintiff in the case is Ray Price’s son Cliff, who publicly addressed a dispute with Janie around the death of Ray Price, saying that she had locked him out of the will, and was refusing to let him see Ray during his final days.
The day before Ray Price’s death, on December 15th, Cliff Price reported via Facebook that his father had passed away. Upon Cliff Price’s post, multiple outlets, including The Tennessean, Saving Country Music, and many others, posted obituaries for Ray. However Janie later disputed this news, saying Ray was still holding on. Cliff later apologized and clarified, saying he had been “deceived by some cruel people” that his father had passed away before making the post. Ray had been dismissed from the hospital days before to spend his final moments in hospice care at his Mt. Pleasant home. Ray’s death the next day was confirmed by Janie Price.
Often in contested estates, the assets are ordered to be liquidated by judges looking to divide assets and resolve the dispute. However when the dispute involves a celebrity or historic individual as is the case with Ray Price, the liquidation of the assets can result in dispersing important artifacts and intellectual property that cannot be replaced and has significance to the public. This is what happened with the estate of Conway Twitty. The estate of Glen Campbell is also currently immersed in a high-profile dispute.
Janie Price says she intended to use items from the Ray Price estate in a museum for the Hall of Fame singer. “Although I am utterly exhausted, I will not waiver in my determination to continue the fight to preserve The Ray Price Legacy,” Janine said on September 21st. “I will roll up my sleeves even as they are literally destroying me and keep working.”
Meanwhile an appeals court in Texarkana may have the final say on if the Ray Price estate will stay in one piece, be distributed equally, or end up on the auction block and liquidated to the highest bidder.
October 13, 2016 @ 8:47 am
It’s sad that this happens to anyone at all after they’re gone.
October 13, 2016 @ 9:43 am
Agreed. These kind of disputes always sadden and disgust me.
October 13, 2016 @ 10:15 am
My grandparents instilled a love of Ray Price into me.
October 13, 2016 @ 3:24 pm
Strange she doesn’t mention it’s Rays son in her account….and the other question is was there a will? I can understand his son wants control, but what is stipulated by Ray ?
October 13, 2016 @ 3:55 pm
There was definitely a will because it is mentioned many times in the court documents.
October 13, 2016 @ 4:27 pm
There are few things as unpleasant as the battle over assets between step children and step parents. Often times it doesn’t matter if the step parent has been around for 2 years or forty three years as in this case.
December 8, 2016 @ 10:40 pm
Because Ray’s son was a step child, you see this happen all the time. Cliff worked on stage with his Dad for approximately the last 20 years and all of a sudden the will gets changed while Ray is under care of hospice and well we all know what that means. If you google the Ray Price Memorial on You Tube, you’ll hear the attorney who did the will talk, I listened to that and the hackles went up on the back of my neck immediately. I’ve never heard an attorney talk at a memorial service about someone he didn’t know and go on about a last minute will, just very very odd.
February 11, 2017 @ 7:10 am
Goldie you do not know the truth and it will come out in court. Everyone will see the truth about it all, please do not be fooled but what you seen on stage. That was in front of fans.
July 14, 2020 @ 1:48 pm
I can tell you this Ray Price loved his only son and would have wanted him to share in his estate.
August 29, 2024 @ 9:23 pm
Goldie. Cliff is/was not his Step Son. Cliff is Rays’ BLOOD-Biological Son.
October 14, 2016 @ 6:24 am
Heartache Number 4
October 16, 2016 @ 1:27 pm
Price was not all that prominent in his later years–certainly nothing like Conway Twitty or Glen Campbell. (Or Johnny Cash, or Haggard or Prince, etc.) For the family’s sake, they should mediate this and work it out quickly. It’s unlikely that there’s any pot of gold to fight over. (Certainly not, if lawyers are involved for an extended period and take their cuts.)
December 9, 2016 @ 3:14 pm
Goldie, I had the same thoughts while watching the Ray Price memorial. Bizarre!!
December 16, 2016 @ 11:43 pm
Janie Price tried to leave Cliff out of everything, even to let him see his father while he was dying. So sad that Ray’s only son was treated like a complete stranger. Just another sad situation that should never have happened. The word that comes to mind is GREED!
February 11, 2017 @ 7:15 am
Jay Jay you do not know what you are talking about, Cliff seen Ray & was not treated like a stranger…there is prove he was to see his father in the hosp. also prove that he was at the house after Ray came home to die. Maybe you need to know the whole truth before you open your mouth.
February 11, 2017 @ 11:17 am
cowgirl…Maybe you need to know the truth yourself! Cliff was kept from seeing his father. The gate was locked to the ranch and there was a guard there. Cliff wanted his equipment our of his father’s bus and was not allowed to get it. There is plenty of documentation showing how he was treated. Believe what you want but be sure it is the truth. Cliff finally got to see his father before he died, but Ray was completely out by then and probably didn’t even know Cliff was there. Where YOU there, that you know so much about what went down???? This was a greedy attempt by Janie Price to keep everything for herself and her family without regard to Ray’s wishes for his only son. Greed, pure and simple! Whoever heard of someone making another Will when they were unconscious?????
April 7, 2017 @ 8:35 am
RAY PRICE WAS A TRUE GENTLEMAN. I HOPE THE LOOTERS LOSE EVERYTHING.WE ALL NOW HOW MUCH RY LOVED HIS WIFE. LEAVE HER ALONE YO VULTURES
July 14, 2017 @ 8:41 pm
From all I have read he loved his only child Cliff Price and his first wife Linda, Cliff’s mother until the day she died. Cliff deserves his share of his father’s estate.
May 3, 2018 @ 9:21 pm
If Ray had intended for Cliff to have anything, he would have left it for him. Listen to his last album – Beauty is: he so loved Janie. I can see him leaving everything to her. I know several men who fully intend to leave their kids out of any inheritance as they feel the kids were not doing right by them and there was no relationship or a selfish one.
July 31, 2018 @ 12:06 pm
I beleive in all fairness the situtation should be split 50 /50 and let then live their lives as they want to even tho their may be some hard feelings hopefully they can get over this and still remain friends.I have had to go thru this in my life and its not pleasent to go thru but if we are truly a child of Gods then we all should do the right thing and hope that the Prices can over come this task and remain some type of a family relationship,For we all know that we can’t take it with us just the memories.I very sincerely hope they will let old hard feeling go away and remain as family for this is surely what Mr.Ray Price would have wanted if he were here today.
August 3, 2019 @ 12:34 am
I think Cliff is the one that deserves all of it I divorced my second wife after a sort time of being married so this wouldn’t happen to.my son I my self have one son from a previous marriage I do believe ray should have took steps to see that everyone was takin care of. Jannie has been awful to rays son even having him escorted off Rays property at one time. So to Cliff I hope you win it all. I am and have been a #1 Ray Price fan.
December 16, 2019 @ 1:10 am
To me…at the least everything Ray Price had should have been split 50/50. A fairly new wife should have never ostracized Ray’s only son. This was his Daddy! Being a son loving his Dad is more than being a second wife with no biological children.
My opinion. 12/16/2019
December 24, 2019 @ 9:46 pm
Ray loved his wife and I know if he could he would come back and slap that greedy boy
January 29, 2020 @ 11:11 pm
Ray had a will leaving 2/3 to Janie and 1/3 to Cliff with Cliff as Executor. Janie had him sign another just before he died leaving everything to her. She was the greedy one.
February 15, 2020 @ 2:24 pm
Well they need to come together settle it each a 1/2 .the way it is now the lawyers and courts will get it all
March 19, 2020 @ 10:49 pm
Having recently paid a lawyer over 60,000 and still not recovering my half of the 40lk my husband,
an IRS agent
stole from our account during a 50 year marriage, i think neither wife nor son will come out with
more than a few thousand left. Lawyers on both sides will do really well with Ray’s millions. Case
will drag on a long time, lawyers will charge well over the 350.00 normal fee for this case. It costs
by the minute to even say hello to your lawyer!
February 17, 2023 @ 7:19 pm
I have been a ray price fan for ever, When he came to our city in Saint John New Brunswick, Canada I was the very first one at the box office at the Imperial Theater to purchase tickets for his show and to get the seats that I wanted this the year 2010, and I kept the ticket stubs to prove it. Ray price could sing anything at all, his voice got better with his age, I really think it’s terrible that his family is going through such an awful battle with Rays estate. I don’t know all the facts but I am sure if Ray was alive he would not want such a terrible thing as this to be going on. I was lucky enough to shake his hand the night of the show and when he signed my CD I said it’s not often that you get to shake the hand of a legend, he said to me Thank you, my only regret was I didn’t stay long enough to get a picture with this very talented man. When I watch him on you tube and listen to his music there is very few performers that can hold a candle to this man, The only thing I can say to the family is life is to dam short to be dragging this through the court and maybe they should think of what Ray would want them to do instead of the greediness that is obviously taking charge. I do think that the son should get what he has coming to him as well as the wife of 45 years of marriage, I guess the lawyers will be the benefit of most of the estate and whats left over if anything will be dispersed in some way or another. The only thing left for me to say is Mr Ray Price , Rest In Peace , Your contribution to the country music industry was second to none. Thank you for signing my CD. Wade Freeze.