Liam Payne left behind a fortune worth £24.3m and died without a will, court documents show.
The singer, 31, died in October last year after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
Documents show Cheryl, his former partner and mother of his son Bear, is an administrator for his estate.
This means she will be legally responsible for his money, property, and possessions.
The former Girls Aloud singer, 41, could place the fortune in trust for Bear as UK rules of intestacy state that a person’s spouse, and then any children they have, are first claim to the estate.
Music industry lawyer Richard Mark Bray has also been given administrator duties.
According to the Letters of Administration, the gross value of Payne’s estate amounts to £28,594,888.
The net value, the total after debts and expenses are paid, amounts to £24,279,728.
Cheryl is an administrator of his estate. File pic: PA
Court documents state that the former One Direction star fell from the balcony of his room on the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires at about 5.10pm on 16 October.
Toxicology tests revealed that before his death, he had traces of alcohol, cocaine, and a prescription antidepressant in his body.
His cause of death was “polytrauma” from multiple injuries and internal and external bleeding, a postmortem found.
Manslaughter charges against Payne’s friend Rogelio “Roger” Nores, hotel operator Gilda Martin, and head of reception Esteban Grassi were dropped following an appeal in February.
Hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra and waiter Braian Paiz are still facing prosecution for allegedly supplying Payne with drugs, having been charged in December. Supplying drugs in Argentina carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
At the Brit Awards in March, Payne was remembered with a video montage which showed him with his family, as well as a clip from his time on The X Factor and with One Direction.
