AS ARETHA FRANKLIN’S FOUR SONS COME TO terms with having buried their mother in Detroit on Aug. 31, they are now facing a bitter public battle over her $US108 million fortune, after the Queen of Soul died without a will or trust. The“Respect” singer, who lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on Aug. 16 aged 76, wasn’t married and her estate was expected to be divided equally between her four sons, Clarence Franklin, 63, Edward Franklin, 61, Kecalf Cunningham, 48, and Ted White Jr, 54. However, her long-term on/off boyfriend, fireman Willie Wilkerson, now believes he is entitled to some of her fortune.
The pair met at a fan meet-and-greet in Detroit in the 1980s and went public with their relationship in a cover story for Jet…