The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin’s sons have clashed over the legendary singer’s will that was found under a sofa cushion, a few months after her death.
The singer died from pancreatic cancer in August 2018, aged 76, without a formal typewritten and known will for an estate worth millions.
However, a few months later, handwritten wills were found under a sofa cushion and in a cabinet at her home in suburban Detroit, Michigan.
A jury has been set aside to determine which of the documents should be ruled as Franklin’s last statement.
The trial began on Monday and it is expected to last less than a week. A six-person jury at the Oakland Country Probate Court will hear from witness which includes the singer’s children, her niece Sabrina Owens and a handwriting expert.
When the 18-time Grammy Award winner died in 2018, the absence of a will meant her assets – including homes, cars, furs and jewelry – were to be equally split among her four sons.
One son–Theodore White II – Franklin’s third child, from her brief marriage to her former manager – argues that the notarised 11-page document dated June 2010 and found inside a locked cabinet is the real will while two other sons–Kecalf and Edward–say a will dated March 2014 and found in a spiral notebook under sofa cushions should placed with more importance as it is the primary will.
The younger brother claims the 2014 document demonstrates the The Queen of Soul’s last wishes as she ‘always read her post and signed papers on the couch.’
Clarence Franklin, the legendary singer’s eldest child, is not involved in the dispute. Clarence lives in an assisted living facility in Michigan and he is under a legal guardianship.
Legendary singer, Aretha Franklin was intensely private about her finances and is said to have resisted preparing a formal will despite her years of ill health.
