Aretha Franklin’s Sons Awarded Property Based on Couch Will

A judge tasked with administering Aretha Franklin’s estate awarded property to the late megastar’s sons, citing a handwritten will discovered in 2014 between some couch cushions. The decision on November 29 came five years after Franklin’s death spurred a protracted inheritance battle between her four children: Clarence Franklin, Edward Franklin, Ted White, and Kecalf Cunningham. One matter in dispute was how to divvy up property with two conflicting wills. Ted argued that the 11-page 2010 document found in the cabinet of Franklin’s home after her death should be the valid document. It instructs the estate to divide assets more evenly among the children. Edward and Kecalf believed the 2014 version — scrawled in a notebook and found nine months later in the couch — was her true will. In the end, a jury sided with Edward and Kecalf earlier this summer, saying the four-page version qualifies as her will under Michigan law. Now, Judge Jennifer Callaghan is doling out the goods.

Franklin’s youngest son, Kecalf, will acquire her suburban-Detroit gated mansion, valued at $1.1 million in 2018, but worth much more in this age of real-estate inflation. Edward will get a property as well. Ted, who favored the 2010 will, would have been awarded a Detroit-area home, but it was sold by the estate for $300,000 before the competing wills were unearthed. “He is requesting the sale proceeds,” his lawyer said on November 29. Clarence, Franklin’s oldest son, who has special needs, agreed to a pretrial settlement, which entitles him to a percentage of the total estate. Franklin signed it with a smiley face inside the letter A. While the chapter might be closed on the real-estate question, attorneys for Franklin’s sons are still arguing over what to do about their mother’s music assets. A status update with the judge is scheduled for January.

• [bbc]

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