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Artist News Legal
Jury rules that document found under a cushion is Aretha Franklin’s will
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 12 July 2023
A jury in Michigan has concluded that a 2014 handwritten document found under a cushion on a sofa can be considered the last will and testament of Aretha Franklin. It means that the late musician’s estate is now likely to be managed and distributed according to the wishes set out in that document.
After Franklin died in 2018, two documents were found in her home that could constitute a will, one from 2010 and one from 2014. How her four children will benefit from Franklin’s estate varies according to which will is enforced. These differences were significant enough to trigger a legal dispute between the siblings.
One of her sons, Theodore Richard White, would benefit more from the 2010 document. He argued that the 2014 document, while more recent, was incomplete and therefore only a draft. It was written in two different inks, there were gaps in the document, and his mother had left it under a cushion on the sofa in her home. Meanwhile, the 2010 document was more complete and stored in a locked drawer.
However, his brothers, Kecalf Franklin and Edward Franklin, who would benefit more from the 2014 document, said that the later document was signed and therefore should be considered legally binding. And the fact it was stored under a cushion rather than in a drawer was irrelevant.
The brothers and their respective lawyers began setting out their respective arguments regarding the two documents in court on Monday. The attorneys then presented some final arguments before the jury yesterday.
According to Law360, the legal rep for Kecalf and Edward said that attorneys for Theodore had honed in on features of the 2014 document that made it seem less complete – like the blank spaces and words crossed out – without acknowledging that some of those features also appeared in the 2010 document. And neither document had been put together by a lawyer.
After those closing arguments had been presented, the jury deliberated for less than an hour before concluding that, by signing the 2014 document, Franklin intended that to be her will.
With that decision made, it’s now for the judge overseeing the case to actually rule on what should happen with Franklin’s estate. However, given the jury’s decision, legal reps for Kecalf and Edward will urge the judge to completely set aside the 2010 document and set in motion what the musician had requested in the 2014 document.
