Tupac Shakur’s estate is owned by the Tupac Shakur Trust, which in turn owns 100 percent of Amaru Entertainment, the company that controls his music catalog, name, image, and licensing rights. The sole trustee is Tom Whalley, a former major-label executive appointed by Tupac’s mother before her death. Tupac’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, and other family members are the beneficiaries who receive the financial benefits, though they do not own the assets directly and have been locked in litigation with Whalley since 2021 over how he runs the trust.
How the Estate Ended Up in a Trust
Tupac was killed in September 1996 without a will. Under California’s intestacy rules, his mother Afeni Shakur inherited the estate and became its administrator. At the time, it carried more liabilities than assets, with label disputes and legal claims piling up.
Afeni spent years stabilizing the finances, renegotiating with record labels, and releasing posthumous albums that eventually turned the estate into a profitable enterprise. She also defeated a claim from Tupac’s biological father, Billy Garland, who sought half the estate; a California Superior Court judge denied the claim, finding Garland’s contributions to Tupac’s upbringing had been “minuscule.” That ruling confirmed Afeni as the sole heir.
Rather than hold everything personally, Afeni created the Tupac Shakur Trust and set up Amaru Entertainment as the operating company beneath it. The trust owns Amaru outright. Amaru is the entity that actually signs the contracts, licenses the music, approves documentary and film projects, manages merchandise, and pursues anyone using Tupac’s work without permission. Keeping the business inside a corporate entity under a trust centralizes control and makes long-term deals and litigation workable in a way personal ownership cannot.
Who Tom Whalley Is and What He Controls
Afeni died in 2016. Since then, Tom Whalley has served as sole trustee of the Tupac Shakur Trust. Whalley is the former chairman of Warner Bros. Records and originally signed Tupac to Interscope. Afeni appointed him to manage Amaru before her death, though the precise timing of his trustee designation has itself become contested in the current litigation. He also runs Amaru Entertainment as its paid head, reportedly on a 20 percent commission on the company’s business.
As trustee, Whalley has broad authority to make day-to-day business decisions: approving posthumous releases, licensing music for film and advertising, and managing investment accounts held by the trust. That authority is not unlimited. Under California Probate Code Section 16002, a trustee must administer the trust solely in the interest of the beneficiaries, not for personal gain or convenience.1California Legislative Information. California Code PROB 16002 – Duty of Loyalty Section 16062 separately requires the trustee to deliver an accounting to each beneficiary at least once a year.2California Legislative Information. California Code PROB 16062 – Duty to Account
What the Family Beneficiaries Actually Own
Sekyiwa Shakur and the other family beneficiaries do not own Amaru Entertainment, the catalog, or the publicity rights directly. They hold a legal right to receive distributions from the trust’s income and, depending on its terms, its principal. The difference matters: it is the difference between owning the business and receiving money from one.
Trust distributions generally come in two forms. Some are mandatory, meaning the document requires the trustee to pay a fixed amount or percentage at set intervals. Others are discretionary, with the trustee deciding whether to pay out based on the beneficiary’s circumstances, often against a standard tied to health, education, maintenance, and support. The specific terms of the Tupac Shakur Trust have not been made public.
Beneficiaries are not without leverage. They can petition a court for a full accounting, demand transparency about investment decisions, and challenge any transaction that appears to benefit the trustee at their expense. A court can remove a trustee for mishandling assets, self-dealing, breaching the trust’s terms, or violating state law.
The Fight Between Sekyiwa Shakur and Tom Whalley
The relationship between the beneficiary and the trustee has collapsed into open litigation. Starting in 2021, Sekyiwa filed court papers accusing Whalley of a “hide and control strategy,” alleging he had failed to produce a formal trust accounting in the years after Afeni’s death in 2016. Whalley responded that an outside firm had been hired to prepare one, while acknowledging that no formal accounting had yet been delivered.
In early 2022, Sekyiwa escalated, accusing Whalley of embezzling millions from the estate. Her filings questioned the valuation of Amaru’s business ventures, the handling of investment accounts, and the propriety of Whalley’s 20 percent commission at Amaru stacked on top of his trustee role. Courts tend to scrutinize that kind of dual-role arrangement closely, because a trustee who also draws a salary from the trust’s operating company has an obvious conflict of interest.
Until that case is resolved, Whalley remains in place as trustee and head of Amaru. The outcome will likely turn on whether a court concludes his management fell within reasonable business judgment or crossed into a breach of his fiduciary duties.
How Long This Ownership Lasts
The most valuable assets inside the trust are Tupac’s copyrights: his master recordings, compositions, and hundreds of unreleased tracks. Under federal copyright law, works by an individual author are protected for the author’s life plus 70 years.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 17 USC 302 – Duration of Copyright Because Tupac died in 1996, his original compositions remain under copyright until at least 2066. That is four more decades of streaming royalties, sync fees, and merchandising revenue flowing through the trust.
Federal law also gives an author’s heirs the ability, under 17 U.S.C. § 203, to terminate copyright assignments and licenses made on or after January 1, 1978. The termination window opens 35 years after the original deal was signed, with a longer window available in some publishing contexts.4U.S. Copyright Office. Termination of Transfers and Licenses Under 17 USC 203 If exercised correctly, this could pull certain deals back under the trust’s or the heirs’ direct control. The procedural requirements are strict, and a missed deadline can forfeit the right.
The estate also controls Tupac’s right of publicity under California Civil Code Section 3344.1, which covers commercial use of a deceased person’s name, voice, photograph, and likeness. The statute treats those rights as transferable property, so they pass through the trust along with everything else.5California Legislative Information. California Code CIV 3344.1 – Deceased Personality Rights California’s publicity rights expire 70 years after death, which again lines up with 2066 for Tupac. Until then, the trust can block unauthorized merchandise, advertising, and AI-generated likenesses that trade on his identity without a license.
So the short answer sits on top of a longer one. The trust owns the estate. Amaru is the vehicle it owns the estate through. Whalley runs both. The family receives the money. And how smoothly any of that works depends on whether the trustee and the beneficiaries can agree on what the books show.