Aretha Franklin voicemails revealed in court as estate battle takes latest twist

Thursday brought one of the most dramatic courtroom moments so far in Aretha Franklin’s long-running estate saga, as a judge heard 20 minutes of newly uncovered voicemails left by the Detroit star shortly before her death.

In the May 2018 messages, the singer rattles off her desired adjustments to a will document recently drafted by a Troy attorney she had enlisted for estate planning. Though Franklin is heard saying she’d like to arrange an office visit “to finish this,” that day of voicemails turned out to be her last communication with the attorney, and the eight-page document remained unsigned when she died that August.

The voicemails made for a gripping, voice-from-the-grave scene Thursday in the courtroom of Oakland County Probate Judge Jennifer Callaghan: Attorneys for Franklin’s four sons gathered at the judge’s bench as audio was streamed from a laptop computer, while three of the sons listened on from the gallery.

In the recordings, left on the voicemail of the Troy estate attorney, the Queen of Soul sounds polite but firm as she spells out her requested tweaks and deletions for the drafted will. They're peppered with friendly feistiness: “That is a no-no,” she says of one clause involving potential liquidation of her music assets down the road.

Thursday’s hearing was the latest twist in the yearslong Franklin estate matter, which has been complicated by the discovery of multiple, conflicting documents seeming to indicate the singer’s final wishes. It was the most notable in-person hearing since the probate proceedings were stalled in part by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The 2018 draft, prepared by attorney Henry Grix of Troy’s Dickinson Wright firm, is one of three will documents in play as the judge considers how Franklin’s estate will be distributed among the four sons and other heirs.

The Grix document was filed to the court in 2021 by Ted White II, the second youngest of Franklin’s sons. It followed the appearance of two handwritten wills, penned by the singer in 2010 and 2014 and found tucked away in her home after her death.

With their varying instructions, the documents have created a contentious impasse among the sons. The 2018 Grix draft is the only one that calls for assets to be split equally among the three youngest, with eldest son Clarence Franklin, who has special needs and is under guardianship, to be supported by a trust.

A jury trial is scheduled for July to determine which — if any — of the documents should hold sway. Thursday’s hearing was called to determine whether the unsigned 2018 draft is admissible under Michigan statutes. Callaghan is expected to rule later this month.

White’s attorney, Kurt Olson, argued Thursday that the drafted will, along with the fine-tuning requested by Franklin via the voicemails and a letter, indicates "she was intending that to be her final wishes.” White, a musician professionally known as Teddy Richards, briefly took the stand and made the same point while confirming that was his mother's voice on the voicemails.

More: Musician Teddy Richards long kept quiet about his famous mom. Now he’s ready to talk Aretha.

Attorneys for sons Edward Franklin and Kecalf Franklin contended the unsigned draft does not qualify under state law. They noted that Aretha Franklin began her series of 2018 voicemails to Grix by saying, “I am not declaring this to be my last will and testament.” While she went on to say she revoked any previous wills, that verbal pledge is insufficient, the attorneys argued.

Edward Franklin and Kecalf Franklin attended Thursday’s hearing but did not testify.

Thursday’s hearing included another unusual twist. Grix, who prepared the 2018 will document, was unable to attend — so instead, two Franklin family lawyers read aloud his testimony from a 2021 deposition.

In the deposition, Grix said he had been recommended to Aretha Franklin by former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, and she reached out in October 2016.

Grix’s first and only in-person meeting with the singer came more than a year later at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit, where she had been admitted under an assumed name, several years into a worsening and ultimately fatal battle with a rare pancreatic disease.

From her hospital bed, Franklin expressed “firm intentions” for her estate, Grix said, including distribution of her jewelry, art, furniture and cars — among them a pink convertible — along with several metro Detroit properties.

In a phone follow-up, Franklin spoke to Grix about her music royalties and a coming film project — what turned out to be the 2021 MGM biopic “Respect” with Jennifer Hudson. Grix testified he had “concerns about her capacity” amid her illness: The singer at times seemed “a bit foggy,” possibly from medication, and at one point she mailed him a retainer check made out to another Detroit law firm.

Communication with Franklin was sporadic, Grix said, and May 2018 was the last he heard from her.

On Aug. 10 that year, Grix said, he got a call from the singer’s personal attorney, asking whether she had signed an estate plan. The personal attorney said Franklin was very sick, drifting in and out of consciousness; six days later, she died.

Contact Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Aretha Franklin voicemails revealed as estate drama takes latest twist