It’s been two and a half months since the music world lost Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin. While the family continues to mourn over her loss, it looks like the gold diggers will start to come out of the woodwork.
According to TMZ, a former attorney to Franklin is suing her estate claiming the legendary music icon owned money. In court documents, Gregory Reed states that his firm provided a number of services to the Queen of Soul including negotiations on her final Atlantic Records contract. However, Reed claims Franklin made her last payment of $10,000, six years ago and he is still owed almost $54,000 in unpaid fees.
With the amount of money Franklin gave to help out ordinary families, it seems fishy that she would go over six years without paying an attorney. Also, why didn’t this firm take her to court years ago to secure their alleged fees?
Franklin passed away in August at the age of 76 following her battle with pancreatic cancer. She leaves behind a net worth estimated to be around $80 million, but according to the Associated Press, the singer didn’t leave a will.
“I tried to convince her that she should do not just a will but a trust while she was still alive,” Don Wilson, a lawyer in Los Angeles who worked with music legend, told the AP.
“She never told me, ‘No, I don’t want to do one,’” Wilson continued. “She understood the need. It just didn’t seem to be something she got around to.”
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