Detroit Today: Everything we know about Aretha Franklin’s will controversy
This week, a jury decided that a 2014 document found in Aretha Franklin’s couch stands as a valid last will and testament.
A mural by Desiree Kelly of Aretha Franklin at Eastern Market in Detroit.
Detroit lost an icon when Aretha Franklin passed away in 2018. But while the Queen of Soul historically made headlines for her music, it’s the resolution of the singer’s will and the division of her estate following a trial in probate court that has the rest of the country talking this week.
On Tuesday, the major question at issue in the legal battle resolved. A jury determined a 4-page handwritten document found under a couch cushion represents the singer’s last will and testament.
Three people who have been following this trial closely joined Detroit Today to help us understand the precedent this resolution sets, and what’s next for the Franklin estate.
Listen: Everything we know about Aretha Franklin’s will.
Guests
Darren Findling is an attorney specializing in probate law and president of the Probate Pro. He says the controversy is related to how Franklin wrote her will.
“If you look at the 2010 will and the 2014, both of them are holographic, both of them are nontraditional,” says Findling. “These are not legal zoom or created by a law firm. These are both created by her handwriting and they are a bit unintelligible.”
Ryan Patrick Hooper is the host of CultureShift, heard Monday through Friday at noon right here on 101.9 WDET, and has been covering the trial. He says the family has been in a long dispute over Aretha Franklin’s will.
“There is quite a bit of bad blood between the brothers because of this long five-year legal battle,” says Hooper.
Nick Austin is an attorney as well as a producer for Detroit Today and host of Soul Saturday, heard Saturdays at 8 p.m. right here 101.9 WDET. He says the jury is under a lot of pressure to understand Franklin’s desires.
“They are dealing with a difficult undertaking of figuring out, ‘what was her intentions?’” says Austin.
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