Jury to decide if note found in Aretha Franklin’s couch cushions is legal will for estimated $6M estate
A handwritten document found stuffed in Aretha Franklin’s couch cushions is at the crux of a dispute over her $6 million estate — with a Michigan jury seated Monday in the case tasked with deciding whether it’s a valid will.
The panel was chosen to oversee the Oakland County Probate Court trial between the Queen of Soul’s sons Kecalf and Edward Franklin — who believe the 2014 document is valid — and their brother, Ted White II, aka Teddy Richards, who wants a handwritten document from 2010 to be honored instead.
Both documents were found in the “Respect” singer’s suburban Detroit home in 2019 — with the earlier one discovered in a closet and the later one unearthed from the sofa.
On Monday, Judge Jennifer Callaghan simplified the question for the jury, determining that the panel must only render a verdict on the validity of the 2014 document — which crossed out Ted’s name as the executor of the estate, replacing it with Kecalf’s name.
Kecalf and his kids could get the iconic songstress’s main home in Bloomfield Hills, both versions of the will say. The house was valued at $1.1 million when Franklin died in 2018, but is worth much more today.
Meanwhile, the 2010 will stated that the brothers’ niece Sabrina Owens should be a co-executor, and specified that Kecalf and Edward “must take business classes and get a certificate or degree” before they could benefit from their mom’s estate. The 2014 version didn’t mention this requirement.
While the estate battle has been ongoing since 2018, one thing that doesn’t appear to be at issue is her music royalties, as both documents seem to indicate that all the sons would share in profits from music and copyrights.
The soul superstar also specified in both documents that her eldest son, Clarence Franklin, who is under guardianship and not a party to the case, must be supported regularly.
The newer document stated that Franklin’s collection of gowns should be auctioned off or given to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.
The “I Say A Little Prayer” singer died at age 76 of pancreatic cancer, leaving behind no formal will for her estate that was estimated to be worth $80 million when she died.
But after taxes on the estate went unpaid for several years, the value has since been dramatically reduced to less than $6 million, according to a report by the BBC.
As of March, the estate had income of $3.9 million for the previous year but it also listed spending at roughly the same rate — including nearly $1 million in legal fees from multiple law firms.
Assets were estimated to be worth $4.1 million in cash and real estate, but that figure doesn’t include the worth of Franklin’s music and intellectual property — which were assigned a place-holder value of just $1.
Franklin’s niece, Owens, previously acted as the estate executor until quitting in 2020 because of a “rift” among the brothers. A Michigan estate lawyer also ran the estate in the past.
With Post wires
