Aretha Franklin, who died last month from pancreatic cancer at the age of 76, did not leave a will.
“I tried to convince her that she should do not just a will but a trust while she was still alive,” said Franklin’s entertainment lawyer, Don Wilson, in a statement, according to The Guardian. “She never told me, ‘No, I don’t want to do one.’ She understood the need. It just didn’t seem to be something she got around to.”
With no will in place, Franklin’s four sons – Clarence, Edward, Kecalf and Ted – and other family members are now faced with the task of finding out how much the legendary singer was worth and dividing it up.
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Court documents filed in Michigan last week detail that one of Franklin’s nieces will act as the executor. As per Michigan law, the four sons will presumably divide their mother’s assets equally.
Although the documents do not mention the total value of Franklin’s assets, the “Respect” singer did maintain ownership of songs she wrote, such was “Think” and “Rock Steady,” as well as various real estate.
Wilson added that Franklin would never have wanted her finances publicly aired, as “she was a private person."
