A Delaware judge has ordered Faith Evans to pay $12,518,336 in profits from The Notorious B.I.G.’s catalog to the trust of his late mother, Voletta Wallace. With interest, the total is nearly $14 million.
Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued the order Tuesday, Oct. 27. It rejected the position taken by Evans’s side, which, as Atlanta Black Star reported, argued the trust was owed only $48,612.
The money comes from Primary Wave Music’s 2025 purchase of a 50% stake in Biggie’s publishing, masters and likeness rights, a deal Bloomberg Law and other outlets have valued at about $100 million. The ruling decides who is paid from it.
A quarter share, and a question of who inherits it
Notorious B.I.G., LLC manages the rapper’s rights. Evans, his widow, runs it as manager. Wallace held a 25% share of its distributions until her death on Feb. 21, 2025. Wayne Barrow, a former manager of the rapper, is trustee of her trust and sued Evans in July 2025, arguing the trust was entitled to that share, including its cut of the Primary Wave money.
McCormick agreed. “All economic rights associated with Ms. Wallace’s member interest in the LLC transferred to her estate upon her death,” she wrote, according to Digital Music News. The profits at issue built up between Wallace’s death and December 2025.
It was the second ruling for Barrow. On Aug. 7, the same judge found on summary judgment that the trust is a member of the company, and refused to pause the case while a separate fight over Wallace’s will plays out in Pennsylvania.
The family fight that is still open
That Pennsylvania case was brought by Christopher “CJ” Wallace Jr., Biggie’s son. He challenges changes made to his grandmother’s estate documents shortly before she died. As Atlanta Black Star reported, the changes were made 15 days before her death. It has not been resolved. If CJ Wallace wins, control of the trust, and of the $12.5 million, could change hands.
Who speaks for the rapper’s legacy, and who is paid from it, is now being decided in courtrooms in two states.
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