Aretha Franklin‘s sons are still fighting over her estate.
Eight years after the Queen of Soul’s death, the legal battle continues, with more than 1,400 court filings and several key issues still unresolved.
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The dispute has largely pitted Franklin’s youngest son, Kecalf Franklin Cunningham, against his brother Ted White II. The pair have clashed over copyright interests in songs including ‘Think’ and ‘Dr. Feelgood’, financial arrangements for their eldest brother Clarence, and hundreds of items being held in storage units.
White has also objected to Cunningham installing security cameras at the units without consulting the other heirs.
A jury validated Franklin’s handwritten 2014 will in 2023. Famously, the document was discovered inside a notebook wedged beneath couch cushions.
Despite that ruling, the estate cannot close until the family distributes the remaining assets and resolves control of Franklin’s music, royalties, and archive.
Among the most valuable unresolved assets are dozens of reel-to-reel tapes and video recordings, some of which may contain unreleased masters or rare concert footage.
Franklin’s longtime attorney David Bennett reflected on the family’s failure to reach an agreement, saying:
“We found the wills, here they are, sit down and come to an agreement as to what they say. Everybody wanted something to the exclusion of somebody else. Which is the reason there is a probate court.”
The brothers have occasionally found common ground, including jointly approving the free use of ‘Think’ in a 2024 Kamala Harris campaign ad.
