Matthew Perry’s estate

5 Jul 2024 · 1 min

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In this monologue, the speaker explains why Matthew Perry’s probate inventory listed only $1.5 million in assets despite reports that he earned $20 million annually from Friends royalties. The explanation centers on the Alvy Singer Trust, which likely held the majority of his wealth, while a single $1.5 million bank account remained outside the trust because the trust was not named as its beneficiary. Consequently, that account had to go through probate. The speaker also describes the function of a pour‑over will, which typically directs any probate‑bound assets into the existing trust, effectively consolidating the estate after death.

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Matthew Perry's will has been going through probate. The inventory of his estate that was filed in probate showed he had an estate of $1.5 million. And many people have been saying, how could he have an estate of only $1.5 million when he was reportedly receiving $20 million a year in royalties from his successful TV show Friends? I don't know this for certain, and no one ever will, but I suspect it was because the bulk of his estate was in his trust. It's been reported many times that he had a trust called the Alvy Singer Trust. So the likelihood is he put the bulk of his estate in his trust. He had a bank account that had not been put in his trust that had $1.5 million in it. Unfortunately, he apparently didn't name his trust as the beneficiary of that bank account. When he passed away, that bank account was in his name alone, meaning that that account would have to go through probate. But he also had what's known as a pour-over will, and the provisions in a will like that typically say that everything in the estate should be poured into the trust. That is