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Case file s360 · Music and sport · 1998
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1998
Frank Sinatra: Frank Sinatra (1957 studio portrait close-up)
Frank Sinatra. Photograph by Capitol Records, per a credit found in the 1959 edition of the International. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
14 May 1998
Place
Los Angeles, California · United States
Field
pop, jazz, film · Music on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (California); no-contest clauses · Common law
Historical event
End of the Rat Pack era
Religion
Frank Sinatra: Catholic (recorded as Catholicism on Wikidata; 20th-century Roman Catholics, American Roman Catholics, Catholic anti-racism activists on Wikipedia)
Member of
Democratic Party, Republican Party (Wikidata)
Music and sportCut out of the willConditions from the gravePostwarNorth AmericaUnited States

Frank Sinatra's will disinherited any family member who challenged it, listing 13 forbidden legal actions

Frank Sinatra's fourth wife, Barbara, and his three children from his first marriage, Nancy, Frank Jr. and Tina, had a long and public rift. His will anticipated a court fight. It said any family member who took adverse legal action would be completely disinherited, and it listed 13 kinds of action that would trigger the clause. Barbara received most of his real estate, including the homes, up to $3.5 million in cash, and his interest in the "Trilogy" recordings. Each child received $200,000 plus interests in a Beverly Hills office building and any surplus above $3.5 million. The children had already received rights to much of his music catalogue during his life. Most of the estate passed through a living trust and was never made public. In 1998 CBS reported the feud continuing after the will was read. No family member challenged the will†. Estate planners now call such provisions "Sinatra clauses."

What the law took from it

A detailed no-contest clause, combined with real gifts to each heir, gives every heir something to lose by suing.

Sources
  1. Deseret NewsPress
  2. CBS NewsPress
  3. sfbar.orgPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Frank Sinatra's will disinherited any family member who challenged it, listing 13 forbidden legal actions,” story s360, https://www.celebrity.estate/frank-sinatra-1998, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportCut out of the willConditions from the gravePostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States