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Case file s335 · Music and sport · 1994
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1994
Courtney Love: CourtLoveRoyalGeo040325 (49 of 54) (crop)
Courtney Love. Raph_PH. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
5 April 1994
Place
Seattle, Washington · United States
Field
grunge rock (Nirvana) · Music on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (California, Washington) · Common law
Historical event
Grunge; the 1990s alternative rock boom
Religion
Courtney Love: Buddhist (recorded as 21st-century American Buddhists, American Nichiren Buddhists, Converts to Buddhism from Roman Catholicism on Wikipedia)
Music and sportPostwarNorth AmericaUnited States

A court removed 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain from Courtney Love's care, and she took control of her father's image

Kurt Cobain died by suicide in Seattle at 27. His daughter Frances Bean was 20 months old. Her mother, Courtney Love, managed the estate. In 2006 Love sold a 25 percent share of Cobain's Nirvana publishing to Primary Wave†. On 11 December 2009 a Los Angeles court made Cobain's mother, Wendy O'Connor, and sister Kimberly Cobain temporary co-guardians of 17-year-old Frances. On 16 December a judge barred Love from contacting her daughter. The filings were sealed because they involved a minor and domestic-violence allegations. Around 2010 Love stepped down as acting manager of End of Music LLC, which holds Cobain's publicity rights, in exchange for a $2.75 million loan from Frances's trust. Frances turned 18 in August 2010 and gained control of a large share of the estate†. During her 2016 to 2017 divorce from Isaiah Silva, filings showed she earned about $102,000 a month from the estate. Primary Wave administers the music in 2026.

What the law took from it

A trust that pays the child directly can make the child, not the surviving parent, the person who controls the dead parent's name.

Sources
  1. usatoday30.usatoday.comPress
  2. CBS NewsPress
  3. people.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “A court removed 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain from Courtney Love's care, and she took control of her father's image,” story s335, https://www.celebrity.estate/courtney-love-1994, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportPostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States