Matthew Perry's Death- What Happens to His Friends Fortune-
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00:00 on timely death, questions are swirling regarding the fate and future of the Friends star's estate.
00:06 "I'm Chandler, I make jokes when I'm uncomfortable."
00:08 On Tuesday, EG spoke with entertainment lawyer Trey Lovell, who shared some insight on who might
00:15 end up getting the actor's sizable fortune, since he never married and didn't have any children.
00:21 "He makes about 20 million dollars annually in residuals. The entire cast makes that,
00:28 and that will continue for however long the shows continue to replay. The residuals will continue
00:34 after somebody's death."
00:37 "It's official, we're moving in together. No turning back. Are you scared? Are you?"
00:41 "It's like an obligation that is paid to the actor and will continue to his heirs."
00:47 Perry was best known for playing Chandler on the hit sitcom from 1994 to 2004.
00:54 "I'm always drawn to characters that, you know, that improve, that are geared to try to become
01:02 better men in their lives."
01:04 "I'm not great at the advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?"
01:08 "I think it was just magic was happening. There was just the perfect casting and just sort of
01:15 magic just all happened at once. I knew it was going to be the happiest time of my life and it
01:19 sort of was."
01:20 In light of Perry's death, Lovell explains that there will be a designee who will determine where
01:25 Perry's royalties go for the foreseeable future. Lovell says that it's currently unknown whether
01:31 Perry had a trust set up to handle his estate or if he'd arranged a will to determine his assets.
01:37 If not, his estate would go to his next of kin, which means his closest family members.
01:43 "The fact that he didn't have a spouse or children, it would go to his parents equally.
01:47 So it's most likely that each biological parent would receive half of the estate."
01:52 Lovell adds that it's possible Perry had something set up where part of his estate
01:57 might go to addiction recovery charities.
01:59 "Recovery was a big part of his life. He had spent millions of dollars to pursue his own recovery
02:05 and I'm sure that had a personal effect on him. I think it's very likely he could have,
02:11 you know, left money to support those types of recovery charities, you know, because he was
02:16 very involved himself." ET learned on Monday that Perry was working on expanding his work
02:21 with people struggling with addiction through the creation of a foundation just before his death.
02:26 "You get into a place in your life where you're having a problem and you either, you know,
02:31 lie down about it or step up to bat and take your swing and that's what I did."
02:36 Perry died on Saturday at his home in LA from an apparent drowning.
02:41 Reports indicating the late actor was found in his hot tub. He was 54 years old.
02:47 It's unclear how far into the process of creating the foundation Perry was when he died,
02:52 but he was focused on helping others battling the same addiction issues he faced throughout his life.
02:57 In an interview with the New York Times last year, Perry said he probably spent
03:02 nine million dollars or something over the course of several decades in an effort to get sober
03:07 and went to rehab some 15 times.
03:10 "He learned things throughout this and what he learned more than anything
03:16 is that he wants to help other addicts and it gave him purpose."
03:23 On Wednesday, Friends creator Marta Kaufman told the Today Show Perry was sober when she
03:28 spoke to him two weeks prior to his death. "He seemed better than I had seen in a while."
03:35 On Sunday, the LAPD told ET that foul play is not suspected at this time,
03:40 but they would not comment on what was or wasn't recovered at the scene,
03:45 as the investigation into his death is ongoing.
03:48 They added that an autopsy has been conducted, but Perry's cause of death has been deferred
03:53 pending the toxicology results. He is survived by his mother,
03:57 Suzanne Marie Morrison, and father, John Bennett Perry.