Importance of Estate Planning: Say a little prayer for Aretha Franklin’s sons

The children of the Queen of Soul are duking it out in court to see who will take control of the late singer’s multimillion-dollar estate.

Aretha Franklin did not leave behind a formal, typed-out will, but two handwritten versions were discovered in her home after she died in 2018. Yesterday, a trial began in Michigan where lawyers for two of the singer’s four sons will argue that a 2014 handwritten note—signed with a smiley face and stuffed in a sofa—counts as her last will and testament. Another son favors a different notarized document from 2010.

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