At Aretha Franklin’s funeral in Detroit a year ago, members of her family, dressed in crisp black and white, filled an aisle in the Greater Grace Temple as they walked together toward her coffin — a solemn image of unity after the death of their matriarch.

But that harmony seems all but lost now, as some of Franklin’s closest kin — including her four sons — jockey for control of her estate and trade barbs in court over matters as serious as each other’s competence and as minor as who gets to drive Franklin’s Mercedes-Benz.

Hanging in the balance is the value of an estate that some experts estimate could ultimately be worth hundreds of millions of dollars — if the family can manage it properly.

“In the business of estate management, everybody in a family has to be on board and move together in a supportive, cooperative manner,” said Jeff Jampol, who manages the estates of Janis Joplin, Otis Redding and the Doors , “or they will tear the fabric of the legacy asunder.”