Aretha Franklin's Sons Battle Over Her Estate Almost 5 Years After Her Death
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UPDATE: According to CNN, a jury reached a verdict regarding Aretha Franklin's estate, determining that the 2014 will shall represent the late singer's last wishes.
The decision rules in favor of sons Kecalf and Edward, who both advocated for this document to be the official will for the deceased Queen of Soul. Per the LA Times, the chosen will named Franklin's niece Sabrina Owens and Kecalf as co-executors.
Kecalf and his grandchildren are said to be the inheritors for Franklin's Bloomfield Hills-based home.
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After two handwritten wills were found in Aretha Franklin's home in Michigan, a jury will determine how the late icon's assets are being split between her four sons, per Entertainment Tonight.
The six-person jury at the Oakland County Probate Court will weigh in as to which of the two wills will be ruled to be the singer's testament. Witnesses including Franklin's children, her niece Sabrina Owens, and a handwriting expert will be called in to help with the decision.
When Franklin passed away in 2018 of pancreatic cancer, it was believed that she died without a will. As detailed by The New York Times, the handwritten wills were found a year later.
One of the wills was written in 2010, disclosing that Franklin's copyrights would be divided equally between her children, but required sons Kecalf and Edward to attend business administration classes to earn anything from the estate. Franklin's son Ted "Teddy" White Jr. was named a co-executor in this particular document.
The other will, written in 2014, was written in a notebook, giving Franklin's sons equal shares of her royalties. However, it also noted that her youngest son, Kecalf, would receive more of her personal property than her other children. Franklin's eldest son Clarence, who is under legal guardianship due to a mental illness, would be expected to receive a far lesser inheritance than his brothers if the will was chosen as the primary one.
Clarence did not participate in the case.
The documents have caused tension between the siblings, as her son Ted believes the 2010 will is the valid one, while sons Edward and Kecalf believe the 2014 will should be the document taken into consideration. As the Times noted, the jury could end up deciding that neither document is valid, instead offering the men an even distribution of their mother's estate.
