Aretha Franklin’s Sons Granted Real Estate Thanks To The Will Found In Her Couch

Aretha Franklin‘s sons have been awarded her real estate after a judge ruled that a handwritten will from 2014 found in her couch is valid.

The ruling comes four months after a jury decided that the will was admissible, despite it being difficult to read. It was signed with the letter “A” and a smiley face, overruling a 2010 will that was found in 2019.

This was a huge victory for Franklin’s youngest son, Kecalf, who’d been arguing over the document’s validity since it suggested that she wanted him to control her estate after she passed. The Queen of Soul did not leave behind a formal will. Kecalf had the support of the singer’s second eldest son, Edward, but her third son, Ted White—and the guardian of her eldest son, Clarence, who has special needs—opposed Kecalf’s motion.

Kecalf will inherit one of her four properties, worth $1.1 million in the Detroit suburbs. White, however, was rewarded with a house that was sold by Franklin’s estate for $300,000 prior to the wills being discovered. Edward was granted a separate property, also based on the 2014 will.

Both the 2010 and 2014 wills were found in Franklin’s home in 2019 and despite the men agreeing that the 2010 will was valid, the courts deemed that the 2014 will would supersede the other one because it was actually signed by the late singer.

Both documents reportedly indicated that Franklin wanted the money from her music and copyrights to be divided evenly between her children, but the 2014 will granted Kecalf full ownership of her $1.1 million home. Also, in the 2010 will, there were stipulations listed about Kecalf and Edward needing to “take business classes and get a certificate or a degree” before getting control of their mother’s estate, but the 2014 will didn’t include those conditions.

Frankin died at age 76 on August 16, 2018, in her Detroit home after a battle with advanced pancreatic cancer.