Aretha Franklin’s trial jury is in handwritten wills

PONTIAC, Michigan –

A Michigan judge on Monday narrowed the issues in a dispute over Aretha Franklin’s estate, saying the only job for jurors is to decide whether a 2014 document, handwritten by the Queen of Soul and found in couch cushions, can be accepted as a valid will.

The determination was made by attorneys for Franklin’s sons before a jury was seated in Oakland County Probate Court.

Franklin passed away in 2018 at the age of 76. But five years later, the music superstar’s estate remains unsettled. One son, Ted White II, believes that a 2010 handwritten will should primarily govern the estate, but two other sons, Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin, favor a 2014 document.

Both were found in 2019, months after Franklin died. The 2014 document was found under pillows at Franklin’s home in suburban Detroit.

The brothers sat shoulder to shoulder behind their lawyers in Judge Jennifer Callaghan’s courtroom. Another brother, Clarence Franklin, is under guardianship and apparently does not participate in the trial.

There are differences between the documents, although they both seem to indicate that the sons would share music and copyright revenue, making that issue seem less contentious than a few others.

In the 2014 version, White’s name as executor has been crossed out and Kecalf Franklin has taken his place. 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.

Over five years, Aretha Franklin’s estate has been handled at various times by three executors, known under Michigan probate law as a personal representative. A niece, Sabrina Owens, dropped out in 2020, citing a “rift” between the sons.

The latest public accounting filed in March showed the estate had income of $3.9 million over the past 12 months and a similar amount of 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 only a nominal $1.