A jury decided Tuesday that a handwritten will found under <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/aretha-franklin">Aretha Franklin</a>’s couch cushions is valid and trumps an earlier version found locked in a cabinet.
The decision comes amid a bitter legal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lawsuit">battle</a> over the legendary singer’s estate. Her son Ted White II insisted that a notarized version of Franklin’s will from 2010 should override the 2014 version discovered in her couch because it was created in a more traditional way.
&#8220;With all the time I spent working with her administratively &#8230; every other document that she ever signed was something that was done conventionally and legally,&#8221; White told the jury via his lawyer, per <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/entertainment/aretha-franklins-handwritten-will-found-couch-cushions-is-valid-jury-decides">Fox News</a>. 
Franklin&#8217;s niece, Sabrina Owens, found the documents in her suburban Detroit home after Franklin died in 2018 without a formal will. 
&#8220;She would use the kitchen and living room — that was about it,&#8221; Owens said in a written testimony that was read during the trial. &#8220;So, when I got to the sofa, I lifted up that far right cushion and there was three notebooks there.&#8221;
A representative for Franklin’s sons, Kecalf and Edward Franklin, argued that the newer version of the will was valid during closing arguments. &#8220;You can take your will and leave it on the kitchen counter. It’s still your will,&#8221; he said.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-1332">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
The most recent will stipulates that Kecalf and Franklin&#8217;s grandchildren were entitled to her home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Meanwhile, the 2010 version says her sons would need to get a certificate or degree in business before becoming entitled to her estate. The 2014 version does include that stipulation, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/aretha-franklin-will-dispute-d7aba286b05ea0d0e6318ce6abc887d5">AP</a>.
The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning the verdict.
&#8220;I&#8217;m very, very happy,&#8221; Kecalf said after the verdict came out. &#8220;I just wanted my mother&#8217;s wishes to be adhered to. We just want to exhale right now. It&#8217;s been a long five years for my family, my children.&#8221;
White’s attorney said, &#8220;We were here to see what the jury would rule. We&#8217;ll live with it.&#8221;
The outlet noted that the last public accounting showed Franklin’s estate had an income of $3.9 million during the previous 12-month period and a similar amount of spending, including more than $900,000 in legal fees to various firms.

Aretha Franklin

Jury Decides Aretha Franklin’s Handwritten Will Discovered Under Couch Cushions Is Valid

Celebrities

Entertainment

Lawsuit

U.S.

Question: What is more cringe-inducing than a celebrity funeral?
Answer: Two back-to-back celebrity funerals.
The ghoulish twin spectacles last week memorializing Aretha Franklin and John McCain brought out the worst in family, friends and frenemies. No matter your partisan affiliation, these vulgar exercises in self-indulgence should serve as object lessons on how not to depart with dignity.
There was the nation&#8217;s most infamous anti-Semite, Louis Farrakhan, smiling like the Cheshire cat onstage with hate crime hoax godfather Al Sharpton and shakedown con artist Jesse Jackson, who exploited his honored platform to threaten funeral attendees: &#8220;If you leave here today and don&#8217;t register to vote, you&#8217;re dishonoring Aretha.&#8221;
There was lascivious 72-year-old Bill Clinton ogling 25-year-old Ariana Grande, who was wearing slightly more fabric than she normally wears, roughly equivalent to two 12- by 12-inch lace doilies, as she warbled &#8220;Natural Woman.&#8221; (Clinton&#8217;s latest public display of asininity closely rivaled his indecent conduct at his former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown&#8217;s funeral, where the master media manipulator fake-cried after news videographers captured him yukking it up after the National Cathedral service.)
There was boorish Bishop Charles H. Ellis III copping a side-feel of Grande&#8217;s barely covered bosom in the name of &#8220;friendliness.&#8221;
There was Atlanta pastor Jasper Williams hijacking the Detroit dais to share his unsolicited views on crime and parenting.
And there was Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson taking a somber moment to honor Aretha Franklin&#8217;s transcendent talent by wallowing in Trump Derangement Syndrome. Dyson called the president a &#8220;lugubrious leech,&#8221; &#8220;dopey doppleganger of deceit and deviance,&#8221; &#8220;lethal liar,&#8221; &#8220;dimwitted dictator&#8221; and &#8220;foolish fascist.&#8221;
A-plus for alliterative abomination!
Not to be outdone by the disrespectful requiem for the Queen of Soul, the five-day, three-city McCain processional marathon featured a vindictive blacklist (reportedly devised by the decedent himself); passive-aggressive eulogy swipes at President Trump by Meghan McCain, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush; and a hyperbolic media declaration about how the late Arizona senator&#8217;s passing augured &#8220;the death of political courage&#8221; itself.
Spoiler alert: Political courage survived.
The fact that President Trump is living rent-free in the heads of so many camera-ready mourners says more about the Hollywood and D.C. swamps than it does about anything else. Outside La-La Land and the polarized realm of the Resistance, sane Americans live grounded and healthier lives defined primarily and centrally by family, faith, hard work, quiet charity, devotion to community and self-improvement.
And you, dear politicians, entertainers and bitterly clinging entourages, are not at the center of it.
We&#8217;ve seen this graveyard narcissism intertwined with crass partisanship during televised death rituals before. The late Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone&#8217;s funeral, after he perished in a plane crash, reeked of electoral opportunism before the 2002 midterms. In front of 21,000 Minnesotans who had gathered to pay tribute to the man, his family and other aides who died in the tragic accident, Democratic leaders gracelessly turned the memorial into a 3.5-hour campaign rally to elect Wellstone&#8217;s stand-in. Campaign treasurer Rick Kahn led a chorus of boos directed at then Sen. Majority Leader Trent Lott, who had traveled from Mississippi to pay his respects, and former GOP Sen. Rod Grams.
Then-Governor Jesse Ventura, an independent, condemned the circus and said the Democrats&#8217; grandstanding &#8220;drove the first lady (Ventura&#8217;s wife, Terry) to tears;&#8221; the couple walked out in protest. GOP senatorial candidate Norm Coleman went on to defeat Wellstone&#8217;s replacement, the dinosaur Walter Mondale, in what political observers from both sides of the aisle agree was a passionate voter backlash against the funeral fecklessness.
But the main reason for self-restraint, of course, is not electoral self-preservation. It&#8217;s soul preservation. Sniping about partisan politics on any pulpit or any platform after anyone of any stature has died is just plain petty. Such unhinged diatribes diminish the ranters more than the targets of the rants.
The deeds of the dead should speak for themselves. All else is futile sound and fury, grotesque pomp and theater, meaningless dust in the made-for-TV wind.
Michelle Malkin is host of &#8220;Michelle Malkin Investigates&#8221; on CRTV.com. Her email address is writemalkin@gmail.com. To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

MALKIN: Death Be Not Loud

Donald Trump

John McCain

Al Sharpton politicized Aretha Franklin&#8217;s funeral on Friday, using the televised event to take shots at President Donald Trump by claiming Trump does not know what respect means, coming just days after Sharpton <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/34707/r-e-s-p-i-c-t-al-sharpton-botches-spelling-joseph-curl">couldn&#8217;t</a> even spell &#8220;respect&#8221; correctly.
&#8220;You know, the other Sunday on my show I misspelled respect,&#8221; Sharpton said. &#8220;And a lot of y&#8217;all corrected me. Now I want y&#8217;all to help me correct President Trump to teach him what it means.&#8221;
&#8220;And I say that because when word went out that Miss Franklin passed, Trump said, &#8216;She used to work for me,'&#8221; Sharpton continued. &#8220;No, she used to perform for you. She worked for us. Aretha never took orders from nobody but God.&#8221;
Sharpton also used the funeral to push a racially-charged message, saying, &#8220;She was a black woman in a white man&#8217;s world.&#8221;
&#8220;She fought a good fight,&#8221; Sharpton concluded. &#8220;Now it&#8217;s time to crown the queen.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Rev. Al Sharpton at Aretha Franklin&#8217;s funeral: &#8220;When word went out that Ms. Franklin passed, Trump said she used to work for me. No, she used to perform for you. She worked for us.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/qSW5iZgtqR">https://t.co/qSW5iZgtqR</a> <a href="https://t.co/QrvJrR4kw3">pic.twitter.com/QrvJrR4kw3</a>
&#8212; ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1035568244592017408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: Al Sharpton Uses Aretha Franklin’s Funeral To Attack Trump

Al Sharpton

Democratic Party

Trump Administration

Beloved singer Aretha Franklin died last Thursday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, and left no will, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/22/aretha-franklin-left-no-will-why-you-should-plan-for-your-death.html?recirc=taboolainternal">according to CNBC</a>. This means the state courts will determine who gets her assets.
&#8220;Her four sons on Tuesday filed a document with the Oakland County Probate Court in Michigan that lists themselves as interested parties in Franklin&#8217;s estate,&#8221; CNBC wrote. &#8220;A niece also asked the court to appoint her as personal representative of the estate.&#8221;
CNBC reporter Sarah O&#8217;Brien goes on to report why failing to leave a will isn&#8217;t good for anyone, not just the wealthy.
&#8220;If you pass away without it &#8212; called &#8216;dying intestate&#8217; &#8212; the legal system in your state will decide who gets your assets, no matter how massive or meager,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien wrote. &#8220;Worse, if minor children are left parentless and there is no will stating who you want to care for them, guess who appoints a guardian? A judge. And that&#8217;s after family members have potentially given their 2 cents.&#8221;
Without a will, family members will have to fight for assets, which can destroy relationships. O&#8217;Brien also says naming someone as executor of your estate also goes a long way toward keeping families intact after a loved one passes. This person can assist in ensuring assets are properly divided and outstanding debts are paid.

Aretha Franklin Didn’t Leave A Will

CNBC

With Madonna, everything&#8217;s always about Madonna, 24/7/365.
So it makes perfect sense that the once-big pop singer took to the stage at Monday night&#8217;s MTV Music Video Awards and, in what was supposed to be a tribute to soul singer Aretha Franklin, went on and on about herself.
Madonna&#8217;s &#8220;tribute&#8221; started out appropriately enough (albeit with a lot of Madonna in it). &#8220;Aretha Louise Franklin changed the course of my life,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I left Detroit when I was 18. $35 in my pocket. My dream was to make it as a professional dancer.&#8221;
OK, both Madonna and Franklin were from Detroit. Worth a mention. But then she went on &#8212; and on and on and . . .
&#8220;After years of struggling and being broke, I decided to go to auditions for musical theater. I heard the pay was better. I had no training or dreams of ever becoming a singer, but I went for it. I got cut, and rejected from every audition,&#8221; Madonna continued. &#8220;Then, one day, a French disco sensation was looking for backup singers and dancers for his world tour. I thought, &#8216;Why not?&#8217; The worst that can happen is I could go back to getting robbed, held at gunpoint and being mistaken for a prostitute in my third-floor walk-up that was also a crack house.&#8221;
In her 10-minute &#8220;tribute,&#8221; Madonna told of how she auditioned for French record producers. Oh, what the heck, here&#8217;s the rest of her speech.
<blockquote>
Two large French record producers sat in the empty theater, daring me to be amazing. The dance audition went well. &#8230;
They asked if I had sheet music and a song prepared. I panicked. I overlooked this important part of the process. I had to think fast. My next meal was on the line. Fortunately, one of my favorite albums was Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin. I blurted out. &#8220;You make me feel&#8230; you make me feel like an actual woman.&#8221; Two French guys shouted at me. &#8220;You know, by Aretha Franklin.&#8221; They looked over at the pianist. [I said] &#8220;I don&#8217;t need sheet music, I know every word. I know the song. &#8230;
&#8220;I will sing it a cappella.&#8221; I could see they didn&#8217;t take me seriously. Why should they? Some skinny-a** white girl is going to come up here and belt out a song from one of the greatest soul singers ever, a cappella? I said, &#8220;B**ch, I&#8217;m Madonna.&#8221; No, I didn&#8217;t. Just kidding. I wasn&#8217;t &#8220;Madonna&#8221; yet. I don&#8217;t know who I was. I don&#8217;t know what came over me. I walked over and started. When I was finished, I was drenched in nerve sweat. You know what that nerve sweat? &#8230;
&#8216;They said, &#8220;We will call you one day, maybe soon.&#8221; Weeks went by. No phone call. Finally, the phone rang. It was one of the producers: &#8220;We don&#8217;t think you are right for this job.&#8221; &#8220;Why are you calling me?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;We think you have great potential. You are rough around the edges. We want to bring you to Paris and make you a star. &#8230;
&#8220;We will put you in a studio, with the great Giorgio Moroder.&#8221; I had no idea who that was, but I wanted to live in Paris and I wanted to eat some food. So, that was the beginning of my journey as a singer. I left for Paris, but I came back a few months because I had not earned the life I was living. It felt wrong. They were good people. I wanted to write my own songs and be a musician, not a puppet. I needed to go home and learn guitar. That is what I did. And the rest is history. &#8230;
&#8220;So, you are probably all wondering why I am telling you this story. There is a reason, because none of this would have happened, could have happened, without our lady of soul. She led me to where I am today. And I know she influenced so many people in this house tonight. In this room tonight. And I want to thank you, Aretha, for empowering all of us. R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Long live the queen.&#8221;
</blockquote>
&#8220;The rest is history,&#8221; Madonna said. That&#8217;s right, because Aretha Franklin existed &#8212; thank God! &#8212; Madonna was born. Sure, Franklin did some other stuff, but let&#8217;s keep this all in perspective &#8212; Franklin&#8217;s biggest achievement is that she brought the world Madonna.
Twitter, as you would expect, went crazy.
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Madonna&#8217;s tribute to Aretha Franklin is Madonna telling a story about herself while acknowledging she loved the &#8220;Lady Soul&#8221; album. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VMAs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VMAs</a>
&#8212; Michael Arceneaux (@youngsinick) <a href="https://twitter.com/youngsinick/status/1031744328350277632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
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Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea for Madonna of ALL people to do the Aretha Franklin Tribute ?
&#8212; Luvy (@IAmTHEMcluvin) <a href="https://twitter.com/IAmTHEMcluvin/status/1031738008293330945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
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Madonna presents an Aretha Franklin tribute by Madonna featuring Madonna with Madonna and Madonna as &#8220;Madonna&#8221;
&#8212; Marc (@MarcSnetiker) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarcSnetiker/status/1031744633628319744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
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*Aretha Franklin dies*
MTV: &#8220;You know what would be really good? If Madonna talked about herself for 10 minutes and mentioned Aretha once&#8221;
&#8212; Hannah (@HannnSandwich) <a href="https://twitter.com/HannnSandwich/status/1031746160350953472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
And those are just a few of the ones we can print. It did turn nasty.
But Madonna was called upon to do the tribute for Michael Jackson &#8230; and Prince &#8230; and now Aretha. Maybe it&#8217;s time MTV picked someone a bit less self-centered to eulogize the dearly departed.

Madonna Gets Shredded After Pretentious, Self-Serving Aretha Franklin Tribute At MTV Awards

Madonna

Maybe he just ran out of crayons.
Actor Jim Carrey is catching heat for his latest cartoon, this one a tribute to singer Aretha Franklin, who passed away on Thursday at the age of 76.
Carrey left acting behind and now spends most of his time drawing political sketches &#8212; mostly aimed at President Trump and his administration and all in an infantile style usually seen on refrigerators.
&#8220;Look how beautiful a life can be. Thank you, Aretha!&#8221; Carrey wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Look how beautiful a life can be. Thank you, Aretha! <a href="https://t.co/GpYGrq75mh">pic.twitter.com/GpYGrq75mh</a>
&#8212; Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) <a href="https://twitter.com/JimCarrey/status/1030132449378856961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
But some pointed out that the drawing showed Franklin, who was black, with a much lighter skin tone.
&#8220;why is she white,&#8221; one Twitterer wrote.
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why is she white
&#8212; polyfaun (@polyfaun) <a href="https://twitter.com/polyfaun/status/1030133094261710849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Some sought to help Carrey out.
&#8220;she&#8217;s moving towards the light from what I can gather, glow on ger [sic] face makes her look white.&#8221;
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she&#8217;s moving towards the light from what I can gather, glow on ger face makes her look white.
&#8212; Bilal S. Haider (@Bilal_S_Haider) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bilal_S_Haider/status/1030135056310980610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Others saw past skin color.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Still doesn&#8217;t look anything like her!
&#8212; CARL NAPOLITANO (@CarlNapolitano) <a href="https://twitter.com/CarlNapolitano/status/1030409564947009538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 17, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
One person even posted an amended picture with the words &#8220;fixed it.&#8221;
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Fixed it <a href="https://t.co/JPYOQ26Khb">pic.twitter.com/JPYOQ26Khb</a>
&#8212; diqué (@AlecthePreacher) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlecthePreacher/status/1030196823414038528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
No worries. Carrey will likely get right back to attacking Trump and his family.

Jim Carrey Slammed For Painting ‘White’ Aretha Franklin In Tribute

Jim Carrey

We all know her voice, and we all know her most famous songs. Now the singer of &#8220;Respect&#8221; and &#8220;Chain of Fools&#8221; has passed away at the age of 76, according to her representative, Gwendolyn Quinn.
The Associated Press reports the cause of death was &#8220;<a href="http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Publicist-Aretha-Franklin-passed-away-Thursday-night-491020811.html">advanced pancreatic cancer</a>.&#8221; Earlier this week, it was reported that Franklin had been moved to hospice care.
The &#8220;Queen of Soul,&#8221; as she was often called, grew up singing gospel music following her mother&#8217;s death. She taught herself how to play the piano, despite not knowing how to read sheet music. She released her first album, Songs of Faith, at the age of 14.
As a teenager, she traveled with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and would eventually sing at his funeral. When she turned 18, she decided she wanted to sing secular pop music, and signed with Columbia Records, and her career took off.
Her first secular album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo, was released in 1961. &#8220;Won&#8217;t Be Long,&#8221; was featured on the Billboard top 100 songs at number 7. Six years later, Franklin would move to Atlantic Records and release her signature song, &#8220;Respect,&#8221; in 1967.
In total, Franklin released 112 singles that appeared on Billboard, and was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987.
She&#8217;s sung &#8220;The Star Spangled Banner&#8221; at the Super Bowl, performed at the Kennedy Center Honors, and sang at the inauguration of three presidents. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2005.
Franklin had four children and was married twice. She passed away at her home Thursday morning.
She will be truly missed, as there will never be another Aretha Franklin.

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