Jury rules document found in Aretha Franklin's couch is valid will

A Michigan jury has ruled that a 2014 document found in Aretha Franklin's couch after her death is a valid will to her multi-million dollar estate.

A two-day trial pitted the late Queen of Soul's children against each other in a battle over two handwritten versions of the singer's final wishes.

Attorneys for two of Franklin's sons had asserted their half-brother Ted White "wants to disinherit" them.

Tuesday's verdict ends a nearly five-year legal squabble within the family.

When Franklin died from pancreatic cancer in August 2018, it was widely believed she had not prepared a will.

But, nine months later, her niece Sabrina Owens - the estate's executor at the time - discovered two separate sets of handwritten documents at the singer's home in Detroit.

One version, dated June 2010, was found inside a locked desk drawer, along with record contracts and other documents.

A newer version, from March 2014, was found within a spiral notebook containing Franklin's doodles wedged beneath the living room sofa cushions.

Six jurors in the city of Pontiac were tasked with determining whether or not the latter document qualifies as a valid will - an argument backed by Franklin's children Kecalf and Edward.

At closing arguments on Tuesday, Kecalf's lawyer Charles McKelvie argued the nature of the notebook's discovery was "inconsequential".

"You can take your will and leave it on the kitchen counter. It's still your will," he told the jury.

Craig Smith, the attorney concurring on behalf of Edward, highlighted the document's first line: "To whom it may concern and being of sound mind, I write my will and testimony."

"Says right here: 'This is my will'," he said. "She's speaking from the grave, folks."