Not a musical topic as such,
I am tempted to put this thread in the non-music area.

One of the things about leaving wealth for your adult children,
when you do your estate planning,
is that there are legal ways to
settle the estate outside of probate court;
I thought that that was what trust funds were about.

Probate court in Aretha Franklin's Michigan home state
is now the (extremely) public arena
for Franklin's grown children to lawyer up and take sides,
amongst other divisive areas,
over no less than three possible last wills,
one of which was handwritten and hidden in the house.

Initial distributions of assets,
as the Detroit Free Press states,
has already begun, with
cash distributions made to each of the four adult children.

As of the latest reports,
administration of Aretha Franklin's estate has now been placed,
as per the judge,
directly under court supervision.

There has yet to be a decision
as to which of the three wills to honor and validate.

So this story is going to play out while
a long and litigious court case is underway,
and the family's dirty laundry will be aired
along with the financial arrangements and relationships.


I would like to hear more, for one thing,
about the mind-set probably at work when
Aretha Franklin was alive and commanding control of the money.

Is it because she came from a family and a way of life
in which there really was no wealth,
no bankers, no attorneys, and no estate planning?
Is that why she so famously
carried her purse to the piano with her on stage?

Administration of Aretha Franklin estate placed under court supervision

what was in the purse