Aretha Franklin's Sons Working Together to Gain Control of Late Singer's Estate

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Aretha Franklin’s son Kecalf is getting help from his brother Edward in his attempt to take over control of his late mother’s estate and business deals.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Aretha’s son Edward Franklin is backing his brother Kecalf in the move to remove the current personal representative of the estate and put himself in charge.

Edward points to the handwritten wills recently discovered in Aretha’s home. He believes the most recent 2014 will to be valid, which has a provision appointing Kecalf as the head of the estate.

He says he consents to his brother Kecalf taking over per their mothers “wishes.” He also is asking the court to restrain the current personal representative, Sabrina Owens, from selling any of Aretha’s assets and asks that Kecalf be named co-representative pending a determination of the validity of the will.

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.

The heir even claimed they have been given no information about the investigation into the worth of her music catalog 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 Franklins, 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.