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      Another Possible Aretha Franklin Will Surfaces in Estate Dispute

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAnother Possible Aretha Franklin Will Surfaces in Estate DisputeLawyers for two of the singer’s sons say the document was in the files of a law firm she had engaged to help her with estate planning.Aretha Franklin was initially thought to have died without a will, but now still another document that may  represent her last wishes has been found.Credit…Paul Natkin/Getty ImagesMarch 11, 2021Updated 6:08 p.m. ETThe estate of Aretha Franklin just got a bit more complicated.When the legendary singer died at 76 in 2018, her family assumed she had no will. Then, nine months later, a few handwritten documents, which may represent two or even three wills, were found in Franklin’s home, leading to a dispute among her four sons over how her estate should be run and its assets divided.Now, a detailed document has emerged that lawyers for two of Franklin’s sons say is a draft of yet another will, from Ms. Franklin’s final years. The papers, filed in a Michigan court this week, include an eight-page document, titled “The Will of Aretha Franklin” and apparently drawn up in 2018, along with another 23 pages that lay out the terms of a trust.Both are stamped “draft,” and neither document has her signature.According to the lawyers in their filing, Ms. Franklin had retained a Detroit lawyer, Henry M. Grix, to help with her estate planning. The filing includes correspondence from Mr. Grix, dated December 2017, in which he summarizes an estate plan for Ms. Franklin, asks her some questions and refers to earlier discussions between them. The filing includes further handwritten notes, said to be from Ms. Franklin, in which she lists family members and other lawyers, along with her properties.The filing, by lawyers for her sons Ted White Jr. and Clarence Franklin, says the documents show that Ms. Franklin had been in discussions with Mr. Grix “for over two years,” and that the correspondence included her initials. After Ms. Franklin “fell very ill,” they said, another lawyer informed Mr. Grix that she was unable to sign.It is not clear how the document would affect ongoing negotiations over the estate, which has an estimated worth of as much as $80 million. The discovery of the handwritten wills upset the peace among Ms. Franklin’s sons and led to the resignation of her niece, Sabrina Owens, as executor.The new draft will would establish a trust to benefit Clarence, who has a mental illness, and would otherwise largely split Ms. Franklin’s assets among her three other sons, Mr. White and Kecalf and Edward Franklin, along with specific bequests to other relatives. That would not differ much from the likely outcome in the event Ms. Franklin had no will at all; in that case, under Michigan law, her estate would simply be divided among her four children.But the new draft will does call into question the handwritten documents found previously. The latest of those, dated 2014, would give a greater share to Kecalf, Ms. Franklin’s youngest son, and less to Clarence. A trial to determine whether any of the handwritten documents should be formally declared a will, and thus govern the estate, is set for August.The filing this week says little about how the draft documents were found. But in response to questions from The New York Times, Joseph P. Buttiglieri, a lawyer who represents the guardian for Clarence Franklin, said the documents had been turned over late last year in response to a subpoena.The filing actually says the documents were discovered in 2019, but Mr. Buttiglieri said that was a mistake.“The file was received by my office in response to a subpoena on or about Dec. 18, 2020,” Mr. Buttiglieri added. He declined to elaborate further.Mr. Grix declined to comment.Although the document was not signed by Ms. Franklin, under Michigan law it could be accepted as a valid will, said David P. Lucas, a lawyer in Battle Creek, Mich., who is the chair of the probate and estate planning section of the State Bar of Michigan, and is not involved with Ms. Franklin’s case.“If the person who wants this to be Aretha Franklin’s will can prove in court by clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Franklin wanted this to be her will,” Mr. Lucas said, “then yes, the court may decide that this is her will.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Aretha Franklin’s Estate Signs Tentative Deal Over Back Taxes Owed

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyAretha Franklin’s Estate Signs Tentative Deal Over Back Taxes OwedWhile the estate continues to dispute the amount sought by the I.R.S., it has agreed to pay or put aside the bulk of its earnings from royalties and other revenue streams.Aretha Franklin’s estate will set aside 45 percent of all revenue it receives to pay off the tax liability she accrued from 2010 to 2017.Credit…Ross Marino/Getty ImagesMarch 2, 2021The estate of Aretha Franklin has reached a deal with the Internal Revenue Service to pay off millions of dollars in federal income taxes that the singer owed during her life, resolving a major financial issue that has been hanging over the estate since Ms. Franklin died in 2018.Under the agreement, which must be approved by the judge overseeing Ms. Franklin’s probate case, the estate will set aside 45 percent of all revenue it receives from now on to pay off the tax liability that Ms. Franklin accrued from 2010 to 2017.An initial payment of $800,000 is to be made to the I.R.S. within five days of the deal’s approval by the judge, Jennifer S. Callaghan of Oakland County Probate Court in Michigan, according to the document submitted in court on Feb. 19. It was signed by the estate’s executor and lawyers for Ms. Franklin’s four sons, as well as by a legal officer at the I.R.S.The document reports the I.R.S.’s claim against the estate as totaling $7.8 million, but that figure apparently does not reflect about $3 million that the estate already declared that it paid at the end of 2018.The deal also lays out a plan as to how the estate will handle ongoing taxes and payments to Ms. Franklin’s heirs. The agreement says 40 percent of the estate’s revenues — which are generated by Ms. Franklin’s music royalties and licensing, as well as from Hollywood productions like a biopic starring Jennifer Hudson — will be held in escrow. That money is being set aside to cover state and federal taxes owed by the estate, as well as estimated taxes owed by heirs.The remaining 15 percent of the revenues are to be used to cover the estate’s administration costs, up to $1 million — any income beyond that point will be paid out in equal amounts to Ms. Franklin’s sons: Edward, Kecalf and Clarence Franklin, and Ted White Jr. The deal also calls for those four men to be paid $50,000 each within five days of the stipulation’s approval.If approved, the deal would remove one of the estate’s biggest hurdles and allow some income to flow regularly to Ms. Franklin’s heirs, even though a detailed plan for the distribution of her assets remains a matter of dispute.The value of Ms. Franklin’s estate has not been decided, but some estimates range as high as $80 million.Since her death, and the discovery of multiple wills she created, there has been disagreement and court fights about exactly who are her heirs, and what were the famed singer’s final wishes in providing for her family.Initially, when Ms. Franklin died in August 2018, at age 76, her family believed she had left no will. Lawyers who represented her said they had tried in vain to get her to write one. Under the law in Michigan, Ms. Franklin’s longtime home, that meant her estate would be divided equally among her children. Ms. Franklin’s sons unanimously nominated a cousin, Sabrina Owens, a University of Michigan administrator who was close to Ms. Franklin, to be the estate’s personal representative, or executor.But nine months later, while going through Ms. Franklin’s Detroit home, Ms. Owens found handwritten documents — one of them was in a spiral notebook under the sofa cushions — that appeared to be two wills. In them, Ms. Franklin criticized various people in her life, including a lawyer, an accountant and the father of one of her sons, and specified how her assets should be split up among her children and grandchildren — in some cases, giving her descendants less money than they would have received if there was no will.That discovery immediately divided Ms. Franklin’s family, with some of her sons asking the court to favor one document or another, and led to the removal last year of Ms. Owens as the estate’s personal representative. She has been replaced by Reginald M. Turner, a Detroit lawyer who is the president-elect of the American Bar Association. Mr. Turner declined comment, saying it would not be appropriate for him to discuss estate matters.The question of whether Ms. Franklin’s wills are valid, and, if so, which of them would govern her estate, is set to be litigated at a trial scheduled to begin in August.The estate is still disputing the tax bill and the agreement with the I.R.S. specifies that if the estate is successful in arguing that a lesser amount is owed, any overpayments would be returned for distribution to the heirs.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More