Aretha Franklin’s sons have been awarded ownership of her old properties, owing to a will found between couch cushions.
The decision came four months after a jury ruled that the document was legal despite being difficult to read.
Franklin signed it with a smiley face inside the letter “A”.
The papers, which date from 2014, supersede a different, handwritten will from 2010 discovered at Franklin’s Detroit home in 2019, the judge said.
The ruling was a victory for Franklin’s youngest son, Kecalf, because the subsequent document indicated that the celebrity, who did not leave a formal will, wanted him to take control of her fortune.
He and his children will now acquire her gated property in suburban Detroit, which was appraised at $1.1 million (£870,000) in 2018 but has since increased in value.
Last year, a lawyer called it the “crown jewel” of Franklin’s real estate portfolio.
Another son, Ted White II, who supported the 2010 will, was awarded another residence in Detroit, which was sold by the Franklin estate for $300,000 (£236,500) before the rival wills were revealed.
“Teddy is requesting the sale proceeds,” his attorney stated on Tuesday.
Judge Jennifer Callaghan granted further property to a third son, Edward Franklin, under the 2014 will.
Franklin’s fourth property, worth more than $1 million (£790,000), is anticipated to be auctioned, with the revenues split among her four sons. The judge ruled that the 2014 will did not explicitly identify who should receive it.
“This was a huge step forwards. We’ve narrowed the remaining issues,” Charles McKelvie, Kecalf’s attorney, told the Associated Press following the verdict.
When Franklin died of pancreatic cancer in August 2018, it was widely assumed that she had not made a will to share ownership of approximately $6 million (£4.6 million) in real estate, cash, gold records, and furs, or her song copyrights.
However, nine months later, her niece Sabrina Owens, the estate’s executor at the time, discovered two unique sets of handwritten documents at the singer’s house in Detroit.
One version, dated June 2010, was discovered in a locked desk drawer, alongside record contracts and other paperwork.
A recent version, dated March 2014, was discovered inside a spiral notebook featuring Franklin’s doodling, jammed beneath the living room sofa cushions.
All of Franklin’s sons agreed that the 2010 contract was legal, but they disagreed on whether Franklin had signed the 2014 paper.
Both contracts said that Franklin intended her four sons to share the income from her music and copyrights, but there were some significant variances.
In the 2014 form, Franklin appeared to gift the $1.1 million (£870,000) mansion to Kecalf, although the 2010 will distributed her assets more evenly among her relatives.
In court, Kecalf said that his mother frequently conducted business on the couch, and that the discovery of a will “doesn’t strike me as unusual.”
Ted, his mother’s touring guitarist, said during the trial that Franklin would have drafted a will “conventionally and legally” rather than “freehand”.
His lawyer claimed that the 2010 will was under lock and key in the house rather than under the pillows.
In the end, a jury concluded that the latter would override the 2010 document, making their ruling in less than one hour.
Franklin’s eldest kid, Clarence, who lives in supported living under guardianship, was not involved in the conflict.
He will receive an undisclosed percentage of the estate under a pre-trial arrangement agreed by his brothers and guardian.
There is still a disagreement regarding how to handle Franklin’s musical talents. A status meeting with the judge is scheduled for January.
For decades, Franklin was one of the most well-known soul and R&B artists, with singles such as Respect, I Say A Little Prayer, Rock Steady, and Think.
