FINAL WISHES

Fourth Aretha Franklin Will Turns Up

The document was reportedly drafted the year she died but never signed.

A 22-page will purportedly drafted by a law firm on behalf of Aretha Franklin the same year she died has turned up, the Detroit Free Press reports. The document, which was never signed, is the fourth will to be attributed to the late star after three other handwritten wills were found in her home. The latest document is said to be the most recent, having been drafted by the Dickinson Wright law firm in 2018, but Franklin never signed the document. Ted White II, the second-youngest of the singer’s four sons, filed the document with the Oakland County Probate Court with a petition asking the court to recognize the latest draft as the Queen of Soul’s legitimate will. White pointed to a state law that calls for a deceased person’s “intent to be recognized even if the documents are defective in execution.” The three previous wills were already the subject of a legal battle between family members, and a jury trial meant to settle the matter of which will would be recognized as valid was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.