by Kevin Killen

[Originally published August 22, 2003, by the Northern Virginia Daily (NVD)]
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The ongoing legal dispute involving Patsy Cline's brother and sister, who have been embroiled in a bitter lawsuit over items from the estate of their deceased mother, appears to be over after a Circuit Court judge ordered remaining items to be sold Thursday.

Sylvia Wilt and her attorney, Philip Griffin II, and Samuel L. Hensley's attorney, Steve Pettler, appeared in Winchester Circuit Court on Thursday in hopes of settling a matter of selling certain items that were not covered during a March 2002 trial.

Hensley -- who filed the suit -- claims that Wilt seized items of Cline's clothing, a trunk and a manuscript from the estate after the death of their mother, Hilda Hensley, nearly three years ago.

At the conclusion of the two-day trial, a jury found Wilt not guilty of taking items from her mother's home.

Cline, whose real name was Virginia Hensley, died in a plane crash in 1963 at the height of her musical career.

Wilt maintains that, according to her mother's will, the siblings were to have 50 percent interest each in all personal property, including items of Cline's that she owned.

Judge John E. Wetsel, Jr. ordered that Charles Alton, who is the estate's adminstrator, sell any remaining items of the estate to cover his legal fees, which total $50,000.

Those items include clothes and jewelry that Cline may have worn. According to an inventory list, the most expensive item is a dress appraised at $6,000.

Wetsel also ordered that everything remaining be sold except for Cline's awards from the Recording Academy (Grammys), the Country Music Association and the commonwealth of Virginia.

The parties involved have not been in court since May 2002, and some items have been sold since that time, Alton said.

Alton said he would be contacting some auction houses.

In a last-ditch effort to regain her family's possessions, Wilt told the court she is in the process of putting her house in Woodstock on the market in hopes of raising enough money to pay Alton.

Wetsel told Wilt that was fine if she wanted to do that, but this should be the last any party will appear in his courtroom regarding the matter.

"This has taken too much time, money and anguish," Wetsel said. "It's time to end this."