Just last week, it was announced that the music world had lost another unbelievably significant artist in the form of Aretha Franklin, the beloved soul singer who spent an incredible career releasing incredible songs and albums. However, despite what has been estimated to be near $80 million estate, she has reportedly left no will.
Her four sons filed a document on Tuesday listing themselves as parties interested in her estate. One document reportedly filed with the Oakland County Probate Court in Michigan, signed by her youngest son Kecalf Franklin and her estate attorney David Bennett, acknowledged the absence of a will.
“The decedent died intestate and after exercising reasonable diligence, I am unaware of any unrevoked testamentary instrument relating to property located in this state as defined” under the law, the document said, per the Detroit Free Press.
The lack of a will from Franklin has a number of consequences regarding how her estate will be divvied up. For one, if the Queen of Soul had intended for any of her money to go to certain causes or individuals, the process will become more than complicated, with much of it being taken as inheritance tax.
“I’m sad – not only because she died but because a lot her money is going to go to the IRS,” said Art Steele, an estate planning attorney and popular podcaster. “It’s sad because a lot of that money is going to the government. She might have wanted to use that money to help black people, and that’s the biggest tragedy besides losing her.”
In addition, Franklin’s intensely private lifestyle will be thrown out the window as well.
“Everything is going to be a public filing, so all of her assets will be on the public record,” says Fredrick Vars, a professor of law at the University of Alabama. “We’ll learn more than she wanted us to know.”
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