I just happened to come across this sad article from December 2017 which seems to have been missed

https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2017/12/06/motown-great-eddie-holland-penniless-tax-bill/108383710/

At initial glance I thought that's terrible, how can that be?

Reading the text, trying to monetise the royalty income before it is earned and this being turned into a financial instrument makes it all less clear. It worked for David Bowie but he did it first, once and at the right time.  

It looks like there is money still somewhere in those companies mentioned, whose it is and how to access it looks incredibly tangled.

Still it's a shame to see such a pivotal person to popular music (and Soul more specifically) going through this at all.