Jury Seated In Trial Over Aretha Franklin Wills

On July 10, a Michigan court in a dispute over Aretha Franklin’s inheritance reduced the concerns, saying the only duty for jurors is to decide whether a 2014 document scrawled by the Queen of Soul and discovered in sofa cushions can be regarded as a valid will. Attorneys for Franklin’s sons reached the agreement before a jury was seated in Oakland County Probate Court.

Franklin passed away in 2018 at the age of 76. However, the music legend’s estate is still unresolved five years later. Ted White II, one of the sons, feels a 2010 handwritten will should primarily control the inheritance, but two other sons, Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin, prefer a 2014 document.

Both were discovered in 2019, months after Franklin’s de@th. Franklin’s residence in suburban Detroit had the 2014 paperwork hidden behind cushions.

In Judge Jennifer Callaghan’s courtroom, the brothers sat shoulder to shoulder behind their counsel. Clarence Franklin, another brother, is supposedly not participating in the trial since he is under guardianship. There are discrepancies between the contracts, but they both appear to indicate that the sons would split money from music and copyrights, making that problem less difficult than a few others.

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White’s name was removed as executor in the 2014 version, and Kecalf Franklin took his place. Kecalf Franklin and his grandchildren would inherit his mother’s Bloomfield Hills main home, which was valued at $1.1 million when she d!ed but is now considerably more valuable.

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Jury Seated in Trial Over Aretha Franklin’s Handwritten Willshttps://t.co/gkC5mDG7vs

— billboard (@billboard) July 10, 2023

For the past five years, Aretha Franklin’s estate has been handled at various times by three executors, known as personal representatives under Michigan estate law. Sabrina Owens, a niece, resigned in 2020, alleging a “rift” among the sons.

According to the most recent public accounting filed in March, the estate earned $3.9 million in the previous year and spent a comparable amount, including more than $900,000 in legal expenses to several firms.

Franklin’s total assets were estimated at $4.1 million, largely cash and real estate, while his creative works and intellectual property were undervalued, with only a minimum $1 amount.