Pontiac, Mich. A handwritten document by singer Aretha Franklin found on her couch after her death in 2018 is a valid will in Michigan, a jury concluded Tuesday, in a critical twist in a dispute that has affected the singer’s children has drawn.
It’s a victory for Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin, whose lawyers had argued that documents from 2014 were intended to overturn a 2010 will discovered around the same time in a locked closet in the suburban Detroit home of the Queen of Soul .
When Aretha Franklin died five years ago at the age of 76, she left no formal typewritten will. But both documents, with scrawls and hard-to-decipher passages, suddenly surfaced in 2019 when a niece was touring the home in search of files.
Franklin’s executors have paid bills, settled millions of dollars in back taxes, and raked in income from music licenses and other intellectual property. However, the will dispute was an unresolved matter.
There are differences between the 2010 and 2014 versions, although both suggest Franklin’s four children would share music and royalties earnings.
But according to the 2014 will, Kecalf Franklin and his grandchildren would get his mother’s main home in Bloomfield Hills, which was valued at $1.1 million at her death and is worth a lot more today.
The oldest will states that Kecalf, 53, and Edward Franklin, 64, “must take business courses and earn a certificate or degree” to benefit from the estate. This provision is not included in the 2014 version.
Ted White II, who played guitar with Aretha Franklin, testified against the 2014 will, saying his mother would generally have important documents dealt with “conventionally and legally” and with the help of a lawyer.
Franklin was a global star for decades, known for hits like “Think,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and “Respect.”