Aretha Franklin Trial: Jury Decides Will Is A Valid Document

PONTIAC, Michigan –

A document handwritten by singer Aretha Franklin and found in her pew after her death in 2018 is a valid will from Michigan, a jury said Tuesday, a critical twist in a dispute that has pitted her sons against each other.

It’s a victory for Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin, whose lawyers had argued that 2014 papers should take precedence over a 2010 will discovered around the same time in a locked cupboard at the Queen of Soul’s suburban home. Detroit.

Aretha Franklin left no formal, typed will when she died five years ago at age 76. But both documents, with scribbles and hard-to-decipher passages, suddenly surfaced in 2019 when a niece searched the house for documents.

Franklin’s asset managers have paid bills, settled millions in tax debts, and generated income through music royalties and other intellectual property. However, the dispute over the will is an unfinished business.

There are differences between the 2010 and 2014 versions, although they both seem to indicate that Franklin’s four sons would share the music and copyright revenue.

But under the 2014 will, Kecalf Franklin and grandchildren would get his mother’s main home in Bloomfield Hills, which was valued at $1.1 million at her death, but is worth much more today.

According to the older will, Kecalf, 53, and Edward Franklin, 64, must “take business classes and obtain a certificate or degree” to benefit from the estate. That provision is not in the 2014 version.

Ted White II, who played guitar with Aretha Franklin, testified against the 2014 will, saying his mother would typically have important documents drawn up “conventionally and legally” and with the help of a lawyer.

Franklin was a world star for decades, best known for hits like ‘Think’, ‘I Say a Little Prayer’ and ‘Respect’.