Three handwritten Wills have been found hidden in Aretha Franklin’s Detroit home many months after she passed away.
Following her tragic death in August last year of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76, Aretha had died ‘intestate’ which meant she did not have a Will.
However, three unseen documents have been found earlier this month, of which two were dated 2010, which was recovered from a locked cabinet after the key was found. The third, which was dated 2014, was hidden under living room cushions.
One of the Wills, which was written inside a spiral notebook appeared to leave her assets to her family, said the lawyer, David Bennett.
The combined handwritten Wills consist of 16 pages but may be hard to decipher due to being filled with scratched-out phrases, notes in the margins and occasional digressions.
David Bennett, who was Franklin’s lawyer for over 40 years, has filed the Wills but has told the Judge he is not sure if they are legal under Michigan Law.
Bennett confirmed that the Wills had been shared with Franklin’s four sons or their solicitors but no deal had been reached on the validity of the Wills in question. A statement from the Franklin estate confirmed two sons had objected to the Wills – a hearing is now scheduled for the 12th June.
Consequently, Franklin’s son, Kecalf Franklin revealed that his mother wanted him to be the administrator of the estate in the 2014 handwritten Will but it has since been confirmed that Sabrina Owens will continue to serve as personal estate representative.
According to legal experts, in some states of America, the documents might not be valid because they were not notarised or signed with witnesses present. However, as the Queen of Soul died in Michigan, it is believed by experts that courts there are far more likely to take the documents seriously.
The reason being is that Michigan, and approximately half the states, allow a ‘holographic’ or handwritten Will as long as it is dated and signed and its ‘material portions are in the testator’s handwriting’.
An estate and tax planning lawyer at the firm McDermott Will & Emery in Washington, Leigh-Alexandra Basha, who perused scanned copies of the documents, confirmed there were, in fact, one Will dated 2014 and two dated 2010 and that each page appears to be signed.
But legal experts have disputed whether the Wills are actually in Franklin’s handwriting. Basha said the probate court or Aretha’s family could appoint a handwriting expert or a forensic document examiner to examine the penmanship.
A veteran forensic document examiner from the New York area, Jeffrey H. Luber said that a writing sample would need to be analysed to see whether certain characteristics, such as the height of letters and the style of the pen strokes were indeed a match.
But Luber believes the analysis could be challenged if there was a reason to believe that Franklin’s handwriting could have been affected by illness at the time of writing them.
Nevertheless going forward there will be much speculation about the validity of the Wills and experts believe verifying the pages might become complex if the probate court has any reason to believe they were not intended to be Franklin’s final wishes in the first place.
James R. Hines Jr., a professor at the University of Michigan Law School said:
“The court will have to decide if the testator wanted this to be their last will and testament and not another kind of document.
“Let’s take the 2014 document, for example. Did she intend that to be her will, or was it notes for a future will or a diary entry to keep her ideas in order?”
In the UK, it is claimed that it is possible for homemade handwritten Wills to be legal in England and Wales, provided that it has been properly drafted and meets the legal requirements – but there are potential issues when writing a Will by hand.
As a professional Will writer, do you think Franklin’s handwritten wills should be taken seriously and made legal? Have you had experience of handwritten Will?
