Aretha Franklin's Sons Prepare for Battle Over Her Will

Five years ago the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin died without finalizing her will [click here if you missed that]. 

Now her sons are facing off against each other over her estate...

From The Daily Mail

Five years after her death, the final wishes of music superstar Aretha Franklin are still unsettled.

An unusual trial begins next Monday to determine which of two handwritten wills, including one found in couch cushions, will guide how her estate is handled.

The Queen of Soul, who had four sons, did not have a formal, typewritten will in place, despite years of health problems and efforts to get one done.

But under Michigan law, it's still possible to treat other documents - with scribbles, scratch-outs and hard-to-read passages - as her commands.

The dispute is pitting one son against two others. Ted White II believes papers dated in 2010 should mainly control the estate, while Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin favor a 2014 document. Both were discovered in Franklin's suburban Detroit home, months after her death from pancreatic cancer in 2018 at age 76.

There are differences between the documents, though they both seem to indicate the sons would share income from music and copyrights.

The older will lists White and Owens as co-executors and says Kecalf and Edward Franklin 'must take business classes and get a certificate or a degree' to benefit from the estate.

But the 2014 version crosses out White's name as executor and has Kecalf Franklin in his place. There's no mention of business classes.

Kecalf Franklin and grandchildren would get his mother's main home in Bloomfield Hills, which was valued at $1.1 million when she died but is worth much more today.

'It´s the crown jewel,' said Craig Smith, attorney for Edward Franklin.

The eldest son, Clarence, according to court papers has been diagnosed with a mental illness and lives with assistance in a group home outside of Detroit.

In one of her wills, his mother instructed her other sons to check in on Clarence weekly and 'oversee his needs'. In this 2014 will, he is not even listed as a beneficiary.

Aretha Franklin wrote in 2014 that her gowns could be auctioned or go to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. She indicated in both papers that oldest son, Clarence, who lives under a guardianship, must be regularly supported.

'Two inconsistent wills cannot both be admitted to probate. In such cases the most recent will revokes the previous will,' Charles McKelvie, a lawyer for Kecalf Franklin, said in a court filing in favor of the 2014 document.

But White's attorney, Kurt Olson, said the 2010 will was notarized and signed, while the later version 'is merely a draft.'

'If this document were intended to be a will there would have been more care than putting it in a spiral notebook under a couch cushion,' Olson said.