Nina Simone left most of her estate to a trust for African children; the California Attorney General said her daughter diverted it, and the daughter resigned and gave up the rights

Nina Simone died at her home in the south of France at 70. Her will left her only child, Lisa Simone Kelly, a Los Angeles condominium. The rest went into a charitable trust for the musical education of Black children in South Africa, Liberia and Ghana. A Los Angeles probate court appointed Kelly administrator on 1 September 2004. In 2008 Kelly sued her father, Andrew Stroud, Simone's ex-husband and former manager, alleging he had fraudulently transferred Simone's music property. That case was dismissed. In 2012 she sued him again in federal court in San Francisco for $155 million, alleging he moved master tapes, diaries and letters to a distributor for nothing. In 2013 the California Attorney General, then Kamala Harris, objected to Kelly's accounting, alleged she breached her duty to the estate and the trust, and sought to surcharge her $5,937,749.42 plus more than $2.5 million in interest. TMZ reported the Attorney General's claim that $1.5 million went to Kelly's own company. In a settlement [date ?], Kelly resigned as administrator and trustee and gave up her rights to her mother's works. The court named San Pasqual Fiduciary Trust Company special administrator and successor trustee, and rejected Kelly's claim under French forced heirship law. In 2015 Sony sought to undo its own earlier deal over the recordings. In June 2021 Simone's granddaughter RéAnna said the estate was taken from the family. In 2026 no later court ruling was found; the settlement stands^†.