More than four years of family dispute over Aretha Franklin’s estate ended Tuesday when a Michigan jury decided what her family couldn’t do — which of two hand-scribbled wills represented the famed singer’s true wishes about how to divide her estate.
After a two-day trial in a probate court in Pontiac, Michigan, a six-member jury decided after less than an hour of deliberation that a four-page document written by Franklin in 2014—and discovered under a couch cushion at her home, months after Franklin’s death in 2018 – should serve as her will.
The verdict resolved more than four years of uncertainty that created a rift in Franklin’s family, and it sets in motion a plan for how to distribute the income and assets of her estate.
“We just want to exhale now,” said Kecalf Franklin, one of the singer’s four sons, outside the courtroom. “It’s been five long years for my family and my kids.”
After the singer died at the age of 76, her family believed she had no will. Under Michigan law, her assets would have been divided equally among her four sons: Kecalf, Edward, and Clarence Franklin, and Ted White Jr. The sons unanimously chose a nephew as the personal representative of the estate, a position similar to that of an executor.
But months later, in May 2019, the two handwritten documents were found in Franklin’s suburban Detroit home — one in a locked closet, the other in a spiral notebook on the couch — which immediately divided the singer’s children. It also raised questions about how royalties for music and other income from the estate — as well as treasured items such as Franklin’s furs, jewelry, and musical instruments — would be distributed.
Neither document was prepared by a lawyer and neither contains a list of witnesses, although the first was notarized. Both contained detailed lists of possessions, along with what appeared to be outside information, such as dismissive comments about some of the men in Franklin’s life.
The two wills also divided Franklin’s assets differently. The earlier specified weekly and monthly allowances for each of Franklin’s four sons. It also stipulated that Kecalf and Edward must “take business classes and obtain a certificate or degree” to collect from the estate.
In the later will, three of Franklin’s sons—all except Clarence—would receive equal shares of their mother’s music royalties, but Kecalf and his children would receive more of Franklin’s personal property. According to the document, Kecalf would get his mother’s main home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan – worth $1.1 million at the time of her death – as well as the singer’s cars. According to accounting records submitted to the court in March, Franklin owned a Mercedes-Benz, two Cadillacs and a Thunderbird convertible.
Also according to the 2014 will, Kecalf’s three children – the singer’s only grandchildren – will receive furs and jewelry.
Kecalf and Edward favored this later document, saying it represented her dying wishes, and retracted the earlier document. White, who played guitar in his mother’s band for a long time, pleaded for the 2010 will; at about a dozen pages, that document is much more detailed and has Franklin’s signature on every page.
“Yes, there’s nothing that says you can’t keep a will in a spiral notebook in your couch cushion,” Kurt A. Olson, an attorney for White, said in his opening statement. “The bigger issue here is, what was her intent?”
According to Craig A. Smith, an attorney for Edward Franklin, the sons have agreed to all support Clarence, the singer’s first child, who has been diagnosed with mental illness, according to court documents.
As the probate case made its way through the courts over the years, things got belligerent. Kecalf accused Sabrina Owens, the cousin initially chosen to run the estate, of mismanagement. She resigned in 2020, citing the “rift” that had developed in the family.
There was still a palpable coldness between Kecalf, Edward and Ted White Jr. in the small courtroom this week. No handshakes, no small talk, and no eye contact were shared between the trio of grown men, who sat shoulder to shoulder on a bench behind their respective lawyers.
White held his wife’s hand during the trial. He said the brothers are stiff to each other in court, but still talk differently.
“We’re as close as three old men can be,” White told a reporter in court Monday.
After the trial ended, Kecalf said there was no bad blood between him and White. “I love my brother with all my heart,” he said.
There was no doubt that Franklin had written the documents, although there has been some debate over whether the 2014 will was properly signed — a smiley face appears to take the place of her first initial.
“Why would anyone sign a document if it was just a draft?” Charles L. McKelvie, a lawyer for Kecalf, asked in court.
After Franklin died, her estate was estimated at $18 million, according to Smith. In 2021, the estate reached a deal with the Internal Revenue Service to pay off approximately $8 million in federal income taxes; under that agreement, the estate said it would set aside 40 percent of revenues — including music royalties and licensing, as well as revenue from projects like “Respect,” the 2021 biopic starring Jennifer Hudson — to pay federal taxes the estate owes. is. and estimated taxes payable by heirs.
The court’s accounting document this year lists $4.1 million in personal property and real estate, including several homes in Michigan; $42,000 in furs; $73,000 worth of jewelry; businesses and accounts related to Franklin’s music; and just over $1 million in bank balances. Accounting has not attempted to estimate future income from her estate’s license fees.
