The estate of Aaron Hernandez — the ex-NFL star once worth an estimated $8 million — is worthless, according to court records.
The former Patriots tight end did not leave a will when he committed suicide in a Massachusetts maximum security prison on April 19, but Hernandez’s fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, was granted the power to sell the late footballer’s minimansion in North Attleboro, worth $1.3 million, the Boston Herald reported.
Sale is pending on the 15-room, 7,100-square-foot home, and the proceeds are already attached to a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Odin Lloyd, whom Hernandez was found guilty of murdering. Hernandez was serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2013 murder.
Jenkins Hernandez told the court the proceeds from the sale of the home would go toward damages for the Lloyd case “and any potential future actions arising out of the decedent’s death,” according to court documents.
Hernandez was acquitted of the murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado less than a week before he hanged himself, but attorneys have speculated that the families of the victims could still launch a civil suit against Hernandez’s estate.
Before his legal troubles foiled his blossoming NFL career, Hernandez had signed a $40 million contract with the New England Patriots in 2010, of which $15 million was guaranteed. Hernandez was known for his flashy lifestyle before his arrest — spending up to $50,000 on a custom watch while vacationing in Las Vegas.
All that seems to be gone now, though. In the court documents Jenkins Hernandez filed last week to gain control over the sale of Hernandez’s New Bedford home, she listed the Hernandez estate’s worth at “$0.00” and described it as having “no monies available and no identifiable personal assets.”
The house in New Bedford was on the market for about a year and only recently secured an interested buyer — the offer and potential buyer’s name will be kept sealed.
