Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of the late musician Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, has filed for divorce in California and is attempting to protect $450 million in assets from her husband. She married musician Isaiah Silver in June 2014.
Court documents cite irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce. The couple have no children together.
The $450 million is Cobain’s inheritance from her father’s estate. She has requested that it be considered separate property in the divorce proceedings although she has said that she is willing to pay spousal support to Silver. Cobain has also requested that all of the other assets she brought into the marriage as well be considered separate property including jewelry and clothing. With the date of separation listed as Feb. 24, 2016, she has also asked that post-separation earnings be separate.
Cobain might have better protected her assets with a prenuptial agreement. However, couples do not usually go into marriage planning to divorce, and the result may be a complex asset division. California is a community property state, so assets acquired after marriage generally are considered the property of the marriage. An inheritance that a person receives after marriage but does not commingle with the family finances might be considered a separate asset, but it is not yet certain whether the estate of Kurt Cobain in this case will be considered a separate asset. It might also depend on whether or not Silver pushes for a portion of it or is satisfied with the spousal support that Cobain offers him. One strategy in a case like this might be to offer generous spousal support without dispute in lieu of dragging out a disputed claim on the $450 million.
Source: Alternative Nation, “Frances Bean Cobain’s Divorce: Read Filing That Seeks to Protect $450 million,” Brett Buchanan, March 24, 2016