Aretha Franklin's Sons Fighting Each Other Over Control Of Singer's Estate
Aretha Franklin’s son Teddy Jr. has gone to court to battle his brothers, Kecalf and Edward, over control of their mother’s estate.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Theodore “Teddy” White II is asking a judge to shut down Kecalf Franklin’s attempt to remove the current personal representative and put himself in charge.
Teddy Jr. is the son of Franklin and her first husband Teddy White.
Teddy denies his brother Kecalf Franklin’s accusations about the personal rep, Sabrina Owens, not keeping Franklin’s kids in the loop of the current business matters.
He does believe the handwritten wills found by Owens at Franklin’s home are legit. He says the most recent will drafted by his mother put him in charge of the estate. He says the will shows she wrote out “Teddy” “Kecalf” and “Sabrina” but then crossed out Kecalf’s name.
Teddy is requesting the judge appoint him as Co-Personal Representative of the estate along with Sabrina Owens.
Last month, Kecalf went to court to file docs seeking to take complete control of Aretha’s estate and wanted Owens removed ASAP. He accused her of mismanaging the estate and failing to perform her duties. Kecalf requested the judge appoint him as the successor and allow him to completely manage all aspects of Franklin’s business.
Kecalf claimed Owens has failed to provide the heirs any accounting or inventory of his mother’s property and assets. He wants to a full list of her jewelry, masters, Grammys, gold records and other awards. He called Owens out for not communicating about the new business deals being negotiated. Kecalf claimed to know nothing about the announced television show Genius and the scheduled MGM biopic about Aretha’s life.
He even claimed they have been given no information about the investigation of her music catalog worth or the investigation of forgery of her checks. He also wants information about the audits being done on her IRS tax returns from 2012 – 2018.
Owens fired back denying Kecalf’s allegations she has left the heirs in the dark. She claimed to be handling all responsibilities of the estate on time and properly. She said inventory hasn’t been done yet but blamed the heirs for delays. Owens was adamant Kecalf and the other siblings have been updated constantly about the business affairs.
Owens also revealed that since police did not press charges over alleged stolen property of Franklin, the estate is preparing a civil lawsuit. She asked the court to deny all requests by Kecalf and keep her on.
As The Blast previously reported, the estate rep recently claimed to have found three handwritten wills that Franklin left in secret spots around her home.
Aretha’s son Edward Franklin also filed docs backing his brother Kecalf in the move to remove the current personal representative of the estate and put himself in charge.
