But nine months later, three handwritten wills, including one stuffed between the cushions of the sofa in the living room, were discovered at her Detroit, Michigan, residence.
The mystery will be amplified this April by previously unheard voicemails from before the Queen of Soul’s passing regarding a potential fourth album.
The dispute between her heirs over Franklin’s money will hopefully be resolved in a jury trial that starts on Monday.
Less than a week is anticipated to pass during the trial at the Oakland County Probate Court.
The Franklin kids, her niece Sabrina Owens, and a handwriting expert will all testify in front of the jury of six people.
Franklin, who has received 18 Grammy Awards, has a long list of hit singles and was the first woman to be admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Although she had been unwell for years, the “Respect” singer kept her financial affairs very private and is thought to have refrained from creating a formal will.
Because she had no will when she passed away at age 76, her possessions, including her residences, automobiles, furs, and jewelry, were divided among her four sons evenly.
Then, a few months after she passed away, three copies of a will were found: two were in a locked cabinet and were dated in June 2010, and one was hidden beneath some cushions in a spiral notebook and was dated in March 2014.
With words scratched out and remarks written in the margins, each version was handwritten and difficult to understand. In most states, they would be ineligible due to this condition, but Michigan law permits handwritten wills as long as they also meet other requirements.
Franklin’s third kid, Theodore White II, from her brief marriage to her former manager, contends that the 11-page contract from 2010 that was notarized should take precedence.
In that version, he is listed with Ms. Owens, the niece, as a co-executor or personal representative of the estate. The singer’s second and fourth sons, Kecalf and Edward Franklin, are also instructed to “take business classes and get a certificate or a degree” if they want to receive money from the inheritance.
Kecalf and Edward assert in the meantime
The oldest child, Clarence Franklin, is not a party to the conflict. He is guarded by the law and resides in an assisted living home in Michigan.According to a lawyer for his guardian, they “have reached a settlement that gives Clarence a percentage of the estate without regard to the outcome of the will contest” and will not take part in the trial.
The family conflict had already forced Ms Owens to resign from her position as executor of her aunt’s inheritance.
“Given my aunt’s love of family and desire for privacy, this is not what she would have wanted for us, nor is it what I want,” she stated in a court document in 2020.
“I cherish my cousins, harbor no ill will toward them, and wish them the best.”
Three voicemails that Franklin left in the months prior to her passing were played in court earlier this year in Pontiac, Michigan. In them, she talks of another will that she was drafting with an estate attorney.The communications feature Franklin making clear some “firm intentions” from a hospital bed in Detroit, but her lawyer, Henry Grix, stated that he thought she “hadn’t made up her mind” over her final wishes.
Since then, the judge has decided not to use the document in the trial.
When the celebrity died in 2018, the Franklin wealth was thought to be worth $80 million (£62 million), but more recent estimates and years of unpaid taxes have drastically decreased that figure.
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