Faith Evans Ordered to Pay $12.5 Million to Biggie Smalls Mother Trust

A Delaware judge has ordered R&B singer Faith Evans to pay more than $12.5 million to the trust of her late mother-in-law, Voletta Wallace, following a protracted legal battle over the royalties and legacy of the Notorious B.I.G.

The ruling, issued Tuesday by Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, concludes that Evans must turnover $12,518,336 in withheld catalog proceeds. The dispute centered on Notorious B.I.G. LLC, a company Evans and the elder Wallace founded in 2007 to manage the professional assets of the legendary rapper, born Christopher Wallace, who was murdered in 1997. Voletta Wallace died in 2025 at the age of 72, leaving her estate to the Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust.

The legal conflict began when Wayne Barrow, the rapper’s former manager and executor of the estate, sued Evans for failing to recognize the trust’s membership in the LLC and withholding distributions.

Evans had filed a motion attempting to limit the payout to just $48,612, arguing that the trust was not a formal member of the company for several months following Wallace’s death. However, McCormick rejected that figure, ruling that the trust was entitled to all distributions owed since the time of Wallace’s passing. “The Trust is entitled to distributions made as of the date of Ms. Wallace’s death,” McCormick wrote in the decision.

Faith Evans Ordered to Pay $12.5 Million to Biggie Smalls Mother Trust:

The judge also ordered that prejudgment interest be added to the total amount, compounded quarterly, to account for the delay in payment. The legal battle has also exposed deep rifts within the family. Christopher Jordan Wallace, the son of Evans and the late rapper, recently challenged his grandmother’s will.

He alleged the document was modified only 15 days before her death to remove him as a beneficiary. Evans had previously used these family disputes as a reason to delay payments to the trust. Despite the internal family strife, the court maintained that the LLC agreement required the distributions to be paid to the estate’s legal successor.

The $12.5 million judgment represents a significant portion of the ongoing earnings from the Notorious B.I.G.’s musical catalog and brand ventures. Attorneys for Evans have not yet commented on whether they plan to appeal the multimillion-dollar judgment.

The ruling marks a major milestone in the decades-long effort to manage the posthumous career of one of hip-hop’s most influential figures.