Aretha Franklin described as The Queen of Soul, won 18 Grammy Awards and had more than 100 singles on the Billboard charts; at the time of her death, of pancreatic cancer aged 76 on Aug. 16, 2018. It was reported that Ms Franklin had not left a will or established a trust. Ms Franklin’s estate could be worth millions of dollars; as it contains not just her music catalogue but also clothing, memorabilia and rights to her likeness.
At the time of her death, Ms Franklin was in negotiations for a TV series and movie about her life. The Internal Revenue Service was auditing Ms Franklin’s tax returns after claiming more than $6 million in taxes. Detroit renamed a city-owned outdoor music amphitheatre after Ms. Franklin; at the unveiling the mayor claimed
“This daughter of Detroit has a permanent memorial, ”
Intestacy
Under Michigan law, the assets of an unmarried person who dies without a will are divided equally among their children. Aretha had been married and divorced twice.
Following her death, her four sons filed a document listing themselves as interested parties in the estate documenting that Ms Franklin:
“…died intestate and after exercising reasonable diligence, I am unaware of any unrevoked testamentary instrument relating to property located in this state as defined.”
Court appoints an administrator
In 2018 Ms Franklin’s niece Sabrina Owens asked the court to appoint her, (and Ms Franklin’s Sons agreed, that Sabrina should act) as personal representative of the estate.
Sabrina had a close relationship with Ms Franklin, particularly toward the end of her life — she accompanied Ms Franklin to doctor’s appointments and helped arrange her memorial service.
Sabrina discovered two handwritten wills from 2010; one states that a previous will from decades earlier is “no good” and the other is 11 pages long and is signed by a notary.
However, the wills appeared to be disorganized and looked more like rough drafts; words are crossed out and the documents contain notes in the margins and arrows.
Sabrina discovered a further will, dated March 2014, located in a notebook found under living room cushions; although difficult to read the document sets aside various assets for family members, including her sons and grandchildren, in this document, Ms Franklin states she wants her son Kecalf Franklin, to serve as personal representative of the estate.
Sabrina accepted the role of executor “under two important conditions”: that “no fractured relationships” develop in the family, and that disagreements did not end up in court — “both of which,” she wrote, “have occurred.”
The court appoints a second adminstrator
In 2020 Judge Jennifer Callaghan of the Oakland County Probate Court appointed Reginald M. Turner, the then president-elect of the American Bar Association, as temporary caretaker of Aretha Franklin’s disputed estate.
Turner a longtime friend of Ms Franklin replaced Sabrina Owens, who resigned as executor, citing the disagreements among the family members. Mr Turner was recommended by lawyers for Kecalf the singer’s youngest son.
Turner’s responsibilities included completing negotiations for a television series and a motion picture.
Informal Wills
No jurisdiction in the United States requires a will to be printed or drafted by a lawyer. A Court will accept a handwritten document as valid will if the person who created it has
- sufficient mental capacity,
- wants the document to serve as a will and
- satisfies the requirements for signing the document.
Although most jurisdictions require that at least two witnesses observe the will being signed and then sign the document as attesting witnesses the state of Michigan, does not require witness signatures if the will was written and signed in the deceased person’s handwriting.
David Bennett, who was Ms Franklin’s lawyer for more than 40 years, sought clarification that the Wills were legal under Michigan law. The estate submitted that two of Ms Franklin’s sons object to the holographic wills. Michigan law gives great weight to the deceased’s wishes if they are clear and convincing.
Earlier this year, the court heard three voicemail messages, recorded in the months before Ms Franklin died, in which she discusses another will she was preparing with an estate lawyer. In the messages, Ms Franklin is heard expressing certain “firm intentions” from a Detroit hospital bed. However, the judge excluded that document from consideration in the trial as the lawyer submitted, that he believed Ms Franklin “hadn’t made up her mind” about her final wishes.
Jury’s decision
A jury has found that the document found in the couch after her death is a valid will under Michigan law vindicating Ms Franklin’s second oldest and youngest children – Edward and Kecalf – whose lawyers had argued that papers dated 2014 should override a 2010 will that was discovered around the same time in a locked cabinet at her home in suburban Detroit; the fact that the 2014 document was found in a sofa cushion did not make it any less valid.
The verdict ended a protracted legal dispute among three of Ms Franklin’s four sons over which of three informal found in her home should take precedence over the others. As a result, the four-page document, drafted in 2014, will guide how the singer’s multimillion-dollar estate and royalties will be distributed among her heirs.
It is not uncommon for people to die intestate, Prince, Billie Holliday, and Kurt Cobain died intestate, however, given Aretha’s legacy, business acumen, and long illness it is surprising that she didn’t make better arrangements for the control of her legacy.