LEGAL FILE

Hank Williams Sr.’s illegitimate daughter should share in royalties worth millions of dollars from songs written by the late country music singer, the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled. In a 5-2 decision, the court said Cathy Deupree Adkinson’s interests were not properly represented when Williams’ estate was settled 21 years ago. The court said Adkinson, a budding country singer from Washington, can share in the royalties from the time she filed her initial claim on Aug. 5, 1985. Her attorney estimated the royalties from such songs as “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Kowliga” are worth at least $500,000 a year and maybe up to a million dollars a year. The ruling came one week after Adkinson reached an out-of-court settlement of her separate lawsuit seeking a share of the $600,000 estate of her adopted mother in Mobile.