This ruling is final: Judge Judy Sheindlin has had so much success over her years on the air, that she’s accrued a net worth of $460 million, according to Forbes. Find out how she amassed such a sizable fortune below.

From Being a Judge to Becoming a Television Phenom

While Judy has admitted to People magazine in November 2021 that her initial goal of beginning her television career after years as a civil servant in New York’s family court as a judge and then a supervising judge was to “be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment one block off the beach in Florida as a retirement place,” Judy quickly realized her worth on the air with her program Judge Judy.

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She Excelled at Negotiating

After Judge Judy began airing on CBS in 1996, Judy’s ratings quickly took off. And with those ratings came opportunities for Judy to raise her salary through some skillful negotiation.

“You have to make yourself indispensable — and that is irrespective of what you do,” Judy, who advocated to CBS executive that they should all be “partners,” added to the outlet. “Once you’ve done that and have leverage, make a reasonable demand and know what the commodity is worth.”

Apparently, Judy told the execs that she could “do this program without” them, but that they “can’t do it without me.”

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Her Justifiably High Salary

After negotiations, Judy raked in a report $47 million a year starting in 2012, according to Forbes, making her one of the highest paid TV stars of all time with that incredible salary.

CBS Bought Out Her Option

While Judge Judy went off the air in 2020, after Judy’s decision to walk away after 25 years on the air, CBS bought out the option for her episode catalogue in 2017 for a whopping $100 million.

She’s Returned to TV

In addition to her show Hot Bench, which she still produces, Judy returned to the televised bench in November 2021 with her IMDB TV show, Judy Justice, as part of Amazon’s streaming platform.