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Case file s1696 · Music and sport · 2018
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2018
Aretha Franklin 1968: Publicity photo of Aretha Franklin from Billboard, 17 February 1968. The uploaded photo is a better quality copy of the image shown in the ad. There are no co
Aretha Franklin 1968. Atlantic Records (Life time: Published before 1978 without a copyright notice). Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
16 August 2018; 2014 will upheld 11 July 2023
Place
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Field
music, singer · Music on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (Michigan probate; handwritten wills; federal income tax claims) · Common law
Historical event
The Covid-19 pandemic, which delayed the will trial planned for 2020
Religion
Aretha Franklin: Other Christian, Protestant and Anglican (recorded as Baptists on Wikidata; 20th-century Baptists, 21st-century Baptists, African-American Christians on Wikipedia)
Member of
Democratic Party (Wikidata)
Music and sportProbate and trust law2015 to 2026Died without a willNowNorth AmericaUnited States

Aretha Franklin's 2014 will was found in a notebook under her couch cushions, a jury upheld it in 2023, and her estate was still open in 2026

Aretha Franklin died of pancreatic cancer on 16 August 2018, aged 76. Lawyers and family said she left no will or trust. Her entertainment lawyer Don Wilson said: "I was after her for a number of years to do a trust." In Oakland County Probate Court her 4 sons agreed on her niece Sabrina Owens as personal representative. In May 2019 3 handwritten wills were found at her home: 2 dated 2010 in a locked cabinet, and 1 dated 2014 in a spiral notebook under couch cushions. Her son Kecalf Franklin said the 2014 papers named him to run the estate. The IRS had filed a claim for more than $6 million in taxes. Owens resigned, hoping to "calm the rift in my family", and in March 2020 Judge Jennifer Callaghan appointed the Detroit lawyer Reginald Turner as temporary personal representative. In July 2022 Turner told the court that the $7.8 million owed to the IRS had been paid off on 17 June 2022. At trial in Pontiac, Kecalf and Edward Franklin backed the 2014 papers; Ted White II backed the 2010 will, which required Kecalf and Edward to take business classes to benefit. On 11 July 2023 the jury took less than an hour to find the 2014 papers a valid will. In November 2023 Callaghan gave Kecalf the Bloomfield Hills house, valued at $1.1 million in 2018, gave Edward another property, and gave White a Detroit house the estate had already sold for $300,000. The eldest son, Clarence, lives under guardianship. Reporting in August 2026 counted more than 1,400 court filings. Kecalf and White were disputing copyright interests in "Think" and "Dr. Feelgood" and hundreds of items in 11 storage units, and both objected to fees submitted by the court-appointed executor, Andrew Mayoras. Status: estate open in Oakland County Probate Court; it cannot close until her music rights and remaining assets are settled (August 2026 reporting).

What the law took from it

A signed handwritten note can be a valid will, and a later note found in a notebook can override an earlier will kept under lock and key.

Sources
  1. wdet.orgPress
  2. clickondetroit.comPress
  3. ktvu.comPress
  4. kshb.comPress
  5. wealthmanagement.comPress
  6. blackenterprise.comPress
  7. complex.comPress
  8. atlantablackstar.comPress
  9. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Aretha Franklin's 2014 will was found in a notebook under her couch cushions, a jury upheld it in 2023, and her estate was still open in 2026,” story s1696, https://www.celebrity.estate/aretha-franklin-2018, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportProbate and trust law2015 to 2026Died without a willNowNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States