Pavarotti wives and family battle over will

Luciano Pavarotti's second wife will receive a portion of his estate worth £10 million, according to reports, none of which will go to his three older offspring.

A will drawn up just weeks before the opera star passed away leaves several US properties and possessions, including an Henri Matisse painting, to his wife at the time of death, Nicoletta Mantovani.

It is believed that a will drafted earlier splits his remaining estate, thought to be worth anything up to £250 million, among his four children and Ms Mantovani.

Pavarotti died earlier this month at the age of 71, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. There has been much speculation about the tenor's will, with some suggesting that he had fallen out with his second wife and disinherited her in favour of his first, Adua Veroni.

"Luciano Pavarotti now has his chance to speak out and, contrary to media reports and rumours, he did not change his will to the detriment of his second wife," the singer's manager Terri Robson told the Associated Press.

It is thought, however, that Pavarotti's three daughters from his first marriage will contest the second will favouring Ms Mantovani, with whom he has a daughter, four-year-old Alice.

"The Maestro's wishes in the first will have been respected and we have no problem with how that has been attributed," the sisters' lawyer Fabrizio Corsini is reported as saying. "However this did not cover the American estate and the three daughters from his first marriage are entitled to a share of this."