When soul legend Aretha Franklin died last summer, her family said she left no will divvying up her $80 million estate — it turns out she left behind three, including one tucked under a cushion in her living room, family lawyers revealed Monday.
Several handwritten wills were found in the superstar’s home outside of Detroit — nearly a year after she died of pancreatic cancer in August 2018, her estate’s attorney David Bennett said Monday.
Two of the wills from 2010 were found in a locked cabinet in the Queen of Soul’s house after a key to the dresser was discovered.
A third dating to 2014 — the most recent of the bunch from — was found under cushions in Franklin’s living room, the lawyer said.
Although some of the writing — which includes scratched-out text and notes in the margins — is hard to decipher, the documents appear to give her assets to her family members.
The wills were found earlier this month, the lawyer said, and family members previously believed she left no documents related to how her possessions should be divided up.
Bennett filed the wills in court on Monday, but he said he’s not sure if they are legally binding under Michigan law. Two of her sons object to the wills, the family said in a statement. A hearing is set for June 12.
Franklin left behind an estimated $80 million estate.
The IRS said in December that the estate owed $6.3 million in unpaid income taxes, but Bennett said at the time it had paid at least $3 million of the debt.
With Post wires