Aretha Franklin's will found in couch valid, jury says

Hand-scrawled document could determine how a variety of assets, from real estate and royalties to jewellery and furs, will be distributed

Aretha Franklin did not leave behind a formal will when she died in 2018. AFP

A handwritten document found in Aretha Franklin's couch cushion is a valid will determining the late Queen of Soul's wishes, a Michigan jury declared on Tuesday, according to the local Detroit Free Press newspaper.

A famously private person, when Franklin died five years ago at 76, she left no formal will – but hand-scrawled documents discovered later in her Detroit home fuelled a dispute among her four sons for years.

The papers, which are difficult to read, appear to distribute assets including real estate, jewellery, furs, stereo equipment and music royalties to her family members.

One, dated 2010, was discovered in a locked cabinet. Another, dated four years later, was found under the cushions.

Two of her sons, Edward and Kecalf Franklin, favoured the 2014 paper. While their brother, Ted White Jr, says the 2010 document in the cabinet is more legitimate.

Attorney Charles McKelvie delivers closing arguments on the second day of a jury trial over Aretha Franklin's wills at Oakland County Probate Court in Michigan. AP

Both wills appeared to show an even split of royalties between the artist's three sons.

The New York Times said that Clarence Franklin, the singer's first-born child, has a mental illness and lives under a court-appointed guardian, and that his brothers have agreed to support him.

The six-person jury's decision works in favour of Kecalf Franklin and his children, who are now set to inherit the singer's primary residence, a mansion in an affluent Detroit suburb. They also stand to inherit her cars.

Of significant focus in the trial was on a signature on the 2014 document, which said "A Franklin" and included a smiley face in the first initial, which Kecalf Franklin testified was "characteristic" of his mother's writing.

The jury rendered its decision after deliberating for about an hour to close the swift two-day trial.

For years, Franklin's estate managers have been settling debts and paying back taxes, while also generating royalties off music and intellectual property.

Franklin's death in Detroit closed the curtain on a glittering six-decade career that spanned gospel, R&B, jazz, blues and even classical music.

She died of pancreatic cancer on August 16, 2018.