Reuters/Jason Reed
Michigan jurors will only be tasked with deciding whether a 2014 scribbled note found in Aretha Franklin’s couch cushions can be accepted as the Queen of Soul’s valid will, a judge ordered on Monday.
The ruling narrows the issues the Oakland County Probate Court jury will decide in the highly-anticipated trial over the ownership of Franklin’s expansive estate, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
The trial comes about five years after 76-year-old Franklin died in 2018 of pancreatic cancer inside her suburban Detroit home. Since the singer did not leave a formal will, her family believed that her assets—including the royalties for her vast musical catalog—would eventually be evenly split among her four sons. (The AP reported that Franklin’s overall assets are estimated to be $4.1 million.)