Aretha Franklin’s son fights over wills five years after her death

PONTIAC, Michigan –

Five years after her death, music superstar Aretha Franklin’s last wishes have still not been fulfilled. An unusual process will begin this Monday to determine which of two handwritten wills, including one found in couch cushions, will determine how her estate is treated.

The Queen of Soul, who had four sons, did not have a formal, typed will, despite years of health problems and attempts to get one done. But under Michigan law, it’s still possible to treat other documents — with scribbles, scribbles, and hard-to-read passages — as her orders.

The dispute pits one son against other sons. Ted White II believes 2010 papers should primarily rule the estate, while Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin favor a 2014 paper. Both were discovered in Franklin’s suburban Detroit home months after her death from pancreatic cancer in 2018 at the age of 76.

“Am I surprised anyone died before they got their ducks in a row? The answer is never,” says Pat Simasko, who specializes in wills and probate and teaches elder law at Michigan State University College of Law.

“This can be arranged at any time, on the stairs, midway through the trial,” he said. “And hopefully it will be. Going to a jury trial is a war.”

Here’s a look at the matter:

FRANKLIN’S DEATH

Franklin was a global star for decades, best known for hits like ‘Think’, ‘I Say a Little Prayer’ and ‘Respect’. Treated like royalty after her death, her body was transported in a 1940s Cadillac hearse to a museum in Detroit, where thousands of people flocked in August 2018.

“She was the people’s diva,” said sociologist Michael Eric Dyson at the time.

It was immediately known that Franklin had died intestate, meaning her four sons would likely share millions in assets, including suburban Detroit real estate, furs, gowns, jewelry, and future royalties from her works. A niece, Sabrina Owens, agreed to be personal representative or executor.

“My advice? Go slow, be careful, and be smart,” Franklin’s friend, businessman Ron Moten, told the sons at the funeral.

WAIT – WHAT IS THIS?

Months later, in the spring of 2019, the estate was turned upside down. Owens reported that a handwritten will dated 2010 was found in a closet and another handwritten will, dated 2014, was discovered in a notebook under pillows at Franklin’s home.

There are differences between the documents, although both appear to indicate that the sons would share music and copyright revenues. The older will lists White and Owens as co-executors and says that Kecalf and Edward Franklin must “take business classes and obtain a certificate or degree” to benefit from the estate.

But the 2014 version drops White’s name as executor and has Kecalf Franklin in his place. There is no mention of business classes. 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.

“It’s the crown jewel,” said Edward Franklin’s attorney Craig Smith

Aretha Franklin wrote in 2014 that her dresses could be auctioned or go to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. She indicated in both papers that the eldest son, Clarence, who is under guardianship, needs regular maintenance.

“Two inconsistent wills cannot both be admitted to probate. In such cases, the most recent will revokes the previous will,” said Charles McKelvie, a lawyer for Kecalf Franklin, in a lawsuit that argued in favor of the 2014 document.

But White’s attorney, Kurt Olson, said the 2010 will was notarized and signed, while the later version “is just a draft.”

“If this document was intended to be a will, there would have been more care than putting it in a spiral notebook under a couch cushion,” Olson said.

INTENTION IS KEY

Simasko, the law instructor, said last wishes in Michigan can be granted through an informal will.

“If you sit there on a Sunday afternoon and you start writing your own wishes, the law allows it as long as the rules are followed: it’s in your handwriting, it’s dated and it’s signed,” he said.

For five years, Aretha Franklin’s estate has been handled by three executors at different times. Owens called it quits in 2020, citing a “rift” between the sons.

She was succeeded by Reginald Turner, a local attorney who was also president of the American Bar Association. His final accounting in March showed that the estate had earned $3.9 million in the previous 12-month period and a similar amount in expenses, including more than $900,000 in legal fees for various companies.

Total assets were pegged at $4.1 million, mostly cash and real estate, though Franklin’s creative works and intellectual property were undervalued by just a nominal $1.

The estate has paid at least $8.1 million since 2020 to the Internal Revenue Service, which had a tax claim following the singer’s death, court documents show.

“The IRS claims took precedence. The estate didn’t go anywhere until the IRS was paid off,” Smith said.