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.), Joel C. Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law), and Laura Galvan (Attorney, San Antonio, Texas) for bringing this to my attention.