No reliable public record establishes how much each of Bing Crosby’s children inherited. Contemporary accounts describe a private trust benefiting his wife and children, but they do not disclose the children’s individual distributions. The often-repeated estimate of $40 million to $70 million was an estimate of Crosby’s wealth—not a documented inheritance total.
What is known about Crosby’s estate?
Crosby died in 1977. A 1977 Washington Post report said his nine-page will listed $400,000 in gifts and directed the remainder to a living trust under his legal name, Harry L. Crosby. A family spokesman said the trust provided for Crosby’s wife, Kathryn, his seven sons, his daughter, and his sister.
The same article reported that Crosby was “believed to be worth between $40 million and $70 million.” That was the newspaper’s estimate of his wealth, not an audited estate inventory or a figure showing what his children received.
Why can’t the children’s inheritance be calculated?
A later Washington Post report from 1979 said inheritance-tax documents filed in San Mateo County showed estate assets of at least $6 million. It also reported that much of the estate passed to Kathryn and the seven children through a living trust that was not subject to disclosure. The reported tax-document assets and the earlier estimate of Crosby’s wealth describe different things; neither reveals how much any one child received.
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The California Court of Appeal’s 2014 account in Crosby v. HLC Properties, Ltd. says the will left the estate’s residue to a marital trust for Kathryn. The available accounts do not provide a complete valuation of the estate, the trust’s terms and distributions, or a child-by-child accounting. Without those details, dividing either reported figure among the children would be speculation.
Did all eight children inherit in the same way?
The evidence does not establish that all eight children received equal shares or the same kind of benefit. A 1991 Washington Post article described a trust established in the name of Crosby’s first wife, Dixie, supporting their four sons. It said the remaining estate at Crosby’s death went to his second wife and the three children of that marriage. This is context about distinct family arrangements, not a disclosure of the amounts inherited by individual children.
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Crosby’s assets also included interests in recordings, radio and television productions, films, musical and literary works, and related contract and publicity rights, as described in a 2005 California Supreme Court opinion. Such interests make a single cash-estate figure an incomplete way to describe an estate, but the opinion does not supply a comprehensive valuation of the children’s distributions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Was the approximately $1.5 million settlement an inheritance?
No. The 2014 appellate opinion describes a 1999 settlement of claims by Wilma’s Trust and its beneficiaries involving royalties, income, or money from interests acquired through Wilma’s marriage to Crosby. The settlement was approximately $1.5 million. It concerned a later dispute over those interests; it is not a disclosed distribution from Crosby’s 1977 estate to his children.
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