Cher Won Her Royalties Fight With Sonny Bono's Widow but Still Has to Pay a Million in Fees

Caption: Sonny and Cher are interviewed after performing on the Dutch television program Fanclub on February 4, 1967. Credit: A. Vente, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 NL.

Cher won the yearslong fight over her share of Sonny and Cher’s biggest hits. The bill for winning it is hers alone to pay.

What You Should Know

A federal judge ruled that Mary Bono, Sonny Bono’s widow, does not have to reimburse the roughly $1,023,605 in legal fees Cher spent during their royalties fight, according to Rolling Stone. Judge John A. Kronstadt found that because the dispute centered on contract rights rather than federal copyright law, the fee-shifting rules that might have forced Mary Bono to pay did not apply.

Cher sued Mary Bono in 2021, accusing her of withholding royalties from the Sonny and Cher catalog after Sonny’s 1998 death, according to AOL. The dispute traces to Cher and Sonny’s 1978 divorce settlement, which split their community property, including music royalties, evenly.

The Public Image Problem

For Cher, now 80, the split outcome complicates what should have been a clean win. She prevailed on the substance: Kronstadt’s final judgment, signed November 26, 2025, found Mary Bono could not use the Copyright Act’s termination provisions to reclaim the royalty share Cher has held for decades, Rolling Stone reported. Yet the fee ruling means the fight cost Cher money even as she won.

The Receipts

Kronstadt’s judgment found the 1978 agreement entitled Cher to half of Sonny’s composition royalties from songs including “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On,” and that a copyright termination could not undo that contract, Rolling Stone reported. The ruling also confirmed Cher’s right to be paid her royalties directly, even after she sold her rights to Iconic Artists Group in 2022. More than $400,000 in royalties had been withheld from Cher since the dispute began, according to AOL.

What Happens Next

Mary Bono is appealing the underlying royalties ruling to a federal appeals court, which has yet to decide, Rolling Stone reported. Cher keeps her royalty stream from the Sonny and Cher catalog while covering her own legal costs, meaning the fight over both the money and the fees is not fully closed.

References: Rolling Stone | AOL