Handwritten will found under Aretha Franklin’s sofa cushions to be examined by expert
The late singer’s two sons are squabbling over who should manage her estate, with the most recent 2014 document still under contention.
Aretha Franklin, seen here in a 2012 performance, died of pancreatic cancer in Aug last year. (Photo: AFP / Kevin Winter)
A judge has ruled that a handwritten 2014 will found under the sofa cushions at Aretha Franklin’s home has to be examined by a handwriting expert. This is to see whether it was indeed written by the late singer who died last year in Aug at the age of 76 of pancreatic cancer.
According to Sky News, the judge also put the administration of Franklin’s estate into the court’s hands, which means it will play a role in major decisions such as sale of property. After her death, the estate was put in the hands of Franklin's niece, Sabrina Owens.
The 2014 will – which Owens found in May along with two other wills from 2010 in a locked safe in Franklin’s home – stated that the Respect singer wanted her son, Kecalf Franklin, to serve as representative of her estate.
The younger Franklin has hired handwriting expert Erich Specken to verify the 2014 document, which Specken has said will take him three hours to analyse.
Aretha Franklin’s other son, Theodore White II, however, is contending that he should be co-executor along with Owens, and had filed for that motion early this month.
Both White and Owens’ names are in the 2010 wills but had been scratched out in the 2014 handwritten document. White had said that he did not believe his mother had crossed out the names.
