Liam Payne died without a will, ex to oversee estate

Liam Payne's ex-girlfriend Cheryl Cole, the mother of his only child, has been named the administrator of his estate.

The singer died in October 2024 after falling from the third floor of a hotel balcony in Argentina.

According to several reports, Payne died without a will. His estate is worth $32.2 million (R587,300,630).

Court documents reveal that Cheryl will oversee his estate along with music lawyer Richard Bray.

Payne and Cheryl, a former Girls Aloud group member, met in 2008 when he was a 14-year-old contestant on 'The X Factor'. She was a judge alongside Simon Cowell.

He returned in 2010 and was put in a group with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson. They were called One Direction or 1D for short.

The group went on to win the singing competition.

They achieved worldwide fame with hits such as 'Story of My Life', 'Best Song Ever', 'Long Way Down', 'Once in a Lifetime', and 'What Makes You Beautiful'.

Payne and Cheryl officially started dating in 2016, a few months after they reunited on 'The X Factor' in December 2015. They welcomed their son Bear in March 2017.

Sadly, the pair called it quits in 2018.

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Cheryl being named the administrator of his estate is not all that unusual.

According to People, if someone dies in the UK without a will, their children or nearest blood relatives inherit their estate if they did not have a husband, wife or civil partner.

Payne and Chryl remained on good terms after their split and co-parented Bear without any public drama.

"I love to take my son to school, it’s so much fun and I know he loves it too," he said in a 2022 interview on the 'Impaulsive' podcast.

"The other day he was asleep, and his mum said to him, ‘morning sunshine’. And then my deep voice came in saying ‘morning’ and he went ‘huh!’ And he went ‘wow daddy, that was the biggest surprise of my life, you being here today’."

Payne, who also leaves behind his parents and two sisters, said the best feeling was taking care of his son and watching him grow.

"My life now is his, my money is his," he added.

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