The dispute over which of Aretha Franklin’s wills is valid has split the family in two.
Aretha Franklin left several wills, which were found after her death. Now a jury has decided which will be the artist’s last testament. Photo: José Luis Magana, Reuters / NTB
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On Tuesday, the jury concluded that it is the handwritten notes found in the artist’s sofa that are her valid will. The news agency reports AP Tuesday night.
Aretha Franklin died in her Detroit apartment in 2018, aged 76, without leaving a typed will.
But in 2019, three wills appeared in Franklin’s handwriting after a niece searched for documents in the soul star’s residence:
Two of them are dated back to 2010 and were retrieved from a locked cabinet after the key was found. The third document is from March 2014 and is written on a spiral pad. It was reportedly found under the pillow in her living room.
The question has been which of these wills is valid under the law of the US state of Michigan. Something that has split the Franklin family in two.
This handwritten sheet was found under pillows in Aretha Franklin’s living room at her home in Pontiac, Michigan. The dispute over the artist’s will has split her family in two. Photo: Ed White / AP / NTB
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Both documents difficult to decipher
Two of Franklin’s sons, Kecalf and Edward Franklin, preferred the 2014 handwritten notes.
Another of Franklin’s sons, Ted White II, however, preferred the 2010 papers.
Both notes must have been difficult to decipher. The handwriting is said to have been difficult to read, and the 2014 papers had several words crossed out and sentences added in the margin. The lawyer handling Franklin’s estate, David Bennett, has previously stated this.
The jury must have reached its decision in less than an hour. They concluded that the handwritten notes from 2014 are valid.
– I am very, very happy. I just want my mother’s wishes to be respected, Kecalf Franklin told the AP.
Requirements for higher education in the first document
The 2010 and 2014 documents are said to be different from each other, but both award Franklin’s four sons the income from her music and the royalties.
But in the 2014 will, it is written that Kecalf Franklin and the grandchildren inherit the main house in Bloomfield Hills, which had a value of about 1.1 million dollars when she died in 2018. Since then, it has increased in value.
In the older document from 2010, she made a demand that her sons Kecalf and Edward Franklin had to take an economics degree in order to take over the property. This should not have been mentioned in the document from 2014.
2023-07-11 20:57:42
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