Four Pages Found in a Couch Are Ruled Aretha Franklin’s True Will

After a two-day trial in Pontiac, Michigan, a jury decided that a four-page document handwritten by Franklin in 2014 should serve as her will. The jury took less than an hour to deliberate, rejecting a longer, more detailed document from 2010.

After Fraklin died at age 76, her family did not believe she had a will. However, family members later discovered two separate documents— four pages handwritten in a notebook, left under a couch cushion, and handwritten pages in a locked cabinet. Her four sons have fought over which document should prevail for the past four years. Neither document found in Franklin’s home was prepared by a lawyer.

For more information see Ben Sisario and Ryan Patrick Hooper “Four Pages Found in a Couch Ruled Aretha Franklin’s True Will” The New York Times, July 11, 2023.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention. 

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2023/07/four-pages-found-in-a-couch-are-ruled-aretha-franklins-true-will.html