Aretha Franklin’s handwritten will discovered in her couch cushions is valid, jury rules
A barely-legible handwritten document unearthed from Aretha Franklin’s couch cushions the year after her death was deemed to be a valid will by a Michigan jury on Tuesday.
Following less than an hour of deliberations — and a trial that started Monday in Oakland County Probate Court — the six-person panel ruled in favor of two of the Queen of Soul’s sons, Kecalf and Edward Franklin, who maintained that the 2014 note was their mom’s legal will.
The brothers and a third Franklin son, Ted White II — aka Teddy Richards — had been duking it out in court over whether that document or another from 2010 should be followed in carrying out plans for their superstar mom’s estate, estimated to be worth about $6 million.
The iconic singer did not have a formal typewritten will at the time of her 2018 death.
With the verdict, White lost his bid to have the 2010 document deemed valid. That note named him as an executor and specified the other two brothers needed to obtain a degree or certificate in business administration before they could inherit.
Kecalf, 53, and Edward, 64, maintained that the more recent document should override the earlier version.
After the verdict was read, Franklin’s grandkids hugged Kecalf and Edward in the courtroom.
“I’m very, very happy,” Kecalf said. “I just wanted my mother’s wishes to be adhered to.”
“We just want to exhale right now. It’s been a long five years for my family, my children,” Kecalf said.
During closing arguments Tuesday, lawyers for Kecalf and Edward said it shouldn’t matter that the 2014 papers were found in a spiral notebook tucked under a couch cushion at Franklin’s suburban Detroit house — arguing the doc should still be considered valid.
It’s “inconsequential. … You can take your will and leave it on the kitchen counter. It’s still your will,” Charles McKelvie, Kecalf’s lawyer, said.
Edward’s lawyer Craig Smith agreed, arguing that the 2014 document, “Says right here: ‘This is my will.’ She’s speaking from the grave, folks.”
In addition to the two wills differing on who would be the executors of Franklin’s estate, the later one also bequeath Franklin’s Bloomfield Hills home — which she called the “crown jewel” — to Kecalf and his children. The home was valued at $1.1 million when Franklin died and is worth much more today.
“Teddy wants to disinherit his two brothers,” Smith argued. “Teddy wants it all.”
But White’s lawyer Kurt Olson fired back during his closing arguments saying, “They’re trying to make Ted a bad guy.”
Olson claimed that Franklin’s signature was in the wrong place on the 2014 document, invalidating it.
Judge Jennifer Callaghan didn’t allow the 2010 will to come in at trial, ruling Monday that the jury should only determine if the newer will was valid.
Franklin — who died of pancreatic cancer at age 76 — had an estate estimated to be worth $80 million at the time of her passing.
But her assets have been dramatically depleted because of years of unpaid taxes and lawyers fees.
The estate is now worth less than $6 million, according to a report by the BBC.
While the estate’s income was estimated in March to be $3.9 million for the previous year, money is going out 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 has a fourth son, Clarence Franklin, who is not party to the suit.
Clarence — the eldest brother — is under guardianship and Franklin had written in both documents that she wanted the estate to provide for his needs, which was not disputed by her other sons.
Franklin’s niece, Sabrina Owens, was listed along with White — who played the guitar for his mom’s performances — as an executor of the estate on the 2010 document. Owens quit the position because of the feuding brothers.
The 2014 document crossed out the name “Teddy” and wrote in Kecalf and Edward as the executors instead.
An executor is in charge of carrying out the terms of a will and must run the estate.
Olson didn’t immediately return a request for comment Tuesday on whether his client planned to appeal.
With Post wires
