The Costly Chaos Behind 20 Legendary Estates

Months after the Queen of Soul’s funeral, her niece began searching the rooms of Franklin’s Michigan home more carefully. A handwritten document dated 2010 appeared inside a locked cabinet. Another, written four years later in a spiral notebook, was discovered beneath the cushions of a couch. There was also a third set of handwritten pages that was less complete. The family had originally believed Aretha Franklin died in 2018 without a will, so the discoveries replaced one uncertainty with several new ones.