Frances Bean Cobain, the child of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, turned 18 years old on August 18. NBC LA reports that on her birthday, Frances Bean stands to inherit millions of dollars from a trust fund set up for her three years after her father's suicide in 1994. She is the sole beneficiary of this trust fund.
As a NY estate attorney would tell clients, a trust fund is typically set up for minors in order to protect their inheritance from creditors or future spouses.
It is also a way for people to control when their beneficiaries gain access to large inheritances in an effort to protect them. Robin Sax, NBC4 Legal Analyst, said: "The purpose of in creating the trust would be to protect Frances Bean Cobain from creditors or future ex-spouses. Having access to this kind of money at her age was something that the court was probably trying to protect her against when they created the trust in 1997."
In Frances Bean's case, it seems that she may have had some inheritance squabbles with her own mother. Last December, she took out a temporary restraining order against Courtney Love. She was under the care of her paternal grandmother Wendy O' Connor and her paternal aunt Kimberly Cobain. Recently, a Seattle based wealth management firm froze Courtney Love out of the trust because it was discovered that millions of dollars were missing from the trust. Lawyers from both sides are trying to figure out where that money went.
While trusts can be set up to protect minors, trusts can also be abused by unscrupulous trustees. Trustees typically have a fiduciary duty to manage the trust in the best interests of the beneficiary. If a trustee fails to do so, then he or she may be held liable for any damages to the interests of the beneficiary. If you think that you have a trustee who may be mismanaging a trust, call a New York estate planning lawyer today.
Related Resources:
- Trusts: An Overview (FindLaw)
- Talk To A NY Estate Attorney (FindLaw)
- Trusts: What You Need To Know (FindLaw's New York Estate Planning News Blog)
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