Battle over Gene Hackman’s $125m fortune as will revealed
Gene Hackman’s family could face a fight for a slice of the late actor’s massive fortune after details of the star’s will were revealed.
Gene Hackman’s $125 million-dollar fortune is allegedly not going to his children.
The actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa’s wills have been revealed after their shocking deaths last month, with TMZ reporting that Hackman’s children were not included in his will.
In 1995, the Oscar-winning star reportedly made Arakawa the sole beneficiary of his estate, leaving out his three children: son Christopher and daughters Leslie and Elizabeth.
Hackman’s wife was supposed to get his fortune in the event of his death, which was likely to happen before her given he was 30 years her senior but both died within a week of each other.
If Arakawa died first, most of her assets were reportedly supposed to go to her husband.
The documents allegedly show a provision stating that if they died within 90 days of each other, aka a simultaneous death, all of Arakawa’s assets would go to charity stating that all her wealth shall be passed to her “personal representative as trustee” for charity purposes.
The document states: “If my spouse does not survive me, I give the residue of my estate to my personal representative, as trustee, to hold and administer in a charitable trust to achieve purposes beneficial to the community, consistent with the charitable preferences and interests expressed or indicated by my spouse and me during our lifetimes.”
The couple, who married in 1991, did not have a prenuptial agreement. They also lived in New Mexico, which in the US is a community property state, adding more chaos to the situation now that they are both dead.
It is also unclear how the couple’s sprawling $6 million home in Santa Fe and other assets would be divided.
But it could cause a rift between the children if they contest the will, legal experts have warned.
According to TMZ, Hackman’s son, Christopher, has already hired Andrew M. Katzenstein, a prominent California trust and estate lawyer, which is a high indicator that he’s likely to challenge the will.
The outlet also points out that collecting their father’s fortune isn’t completely off the table for his children as they are the most direct living heirs.
“By hiring Katzenstein, it shows that he [Chris] is definitely trying to protect his interests,” a legal expert told DailyMail.
“The fact that Chris got a high-powered lawyer indicates to me something is going on.
“I don’t know why the girls [daughters] are not represented. That tells me that there must be some trouble brewing.”
While Hackman rose to Hollywood’s greatest heights, rifts soon emerged in his troubled relationship with his children.
Hackman and first wife Faye Maltese’s first child, Christopher, was born in 1960.
He was followed by sister Elizabeth two years later, and Leslie in 1966.
But a Hollywood life had consequences for his children.
Hackman’s hectic schedule meant he was “gone too long” and his relationship with Faye, his children’s mother, came under strain.
He once described his fame as “hanging over their heads”, as Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie attempted to live normal lives.
Hackman and Faye divorced in 1986.
He even admitted that his relationship with his eldest child, son Christopher, suffered to the point where they “lost touch”.
“I lost touch with my son in terms of advice early on,” Hackman told GQ in 2011.
“Maybe it had to do with being gone so much, doing location films when he was at an age where he needed support and guidance.
“It was very tough for me to be gone for three months and then come home and start bossing him around.”
Hackman married Arakawa in 1991, and the classical pianist is said to have helped him heal his relationship with his children.
Mystery continues to surround the deaths of Hackman and Arakawa as authorities confirm they are looking into “loopholes”.
Officials revealed the causes of death of the couple last week, but police spokesman Sheriff Adan Mendoza says there are still questions to be answered before closing the case.
Arakawa died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which is caused by contact with rodents like rats and mice, New Mexico’s chief medical examiner Dr Heather Jarrell said.
She died before Hackman – around February 11 – leaving the two-time Oscar-winner alone at the house.
Hackman – suffering from the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s – is believed to have died a week later on February 18.
Sadly, he lived alongside his wife’s body, likely not knowing she was dead.
“We consider this an open investigation until we close the loopholes of the cell phones, until we finish out the necropsy results of the canine and the other loose ends that we need to tie up,” Sheriff Mendoza said.
Arakawa’s decomposed body was found in the bathroom of their four-bedroom house, surrounded by scattered pills from an open prescription bottle on the bench.
HEARTBREAKING ACT OF LOYALTY BY HACKMAN’S DOGS
It comes as heartbreaking details of the final act of loyalty shown to Hackman and Arakawa by their dogs after the couple’s deaths have been revealed.
As emergency responders arrived at the actor’s home after receiving a 911 call from a maintenance worker, they were met by the couple’s German Shepherd, Bear, and Akita-shepherd mix, Nikita.
They ran up to first responders, barking frantically before running off.
Initially, authorities believed the dogs were playing, but it was soon revealed that they were actually trying to lead paramedics to the couple’s bodies in their final act of loyalty to their owners.
The medical team had already found the body of 65-year-old Arakawa in the bathroom of the Santa Fe mansion but despite a 30-minute search of the property, they were unable to find the 95-year-old Oscar winner.
Thanks to the help of his dogs, Hackman’s body was located in the mud room at the far end of the sprawling, 9000-square-foot home.
Santa Fe Fire Chief Brian Moya told USA Today: “They realised (the dog) was trying to say, ‘Hey, come over here! Come over here!’”
After leading the team to him, one of the dogs sat beside Hackman’s body.
Nikita was “skittish because of all the commotion” and refused to leave the sides of both of her owners, authorities said.
Both dogs who are now in a boarding facility until the couple’s wills are read and they can be rehomed are said to be “healthy”.
The couple’s third dog Zinna was found dead in a crate in the bathroom near the pianist’s body in a “mummified state”, according to police.
The 12-year-old Australian Kelpie mix had undergone a veterinary procedure in the days before Arakawa’s death but it is not known what killed the dog.
Hackman’s wife was found to have died seven days before the actor on February 11 from a rare rodent disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
Hantavirus spreads when exposed to rodents’ urine, droppings, and saliva, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hackman, who was suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s, was then alone in the house for days.
It is possible that he did not know of his wife’s body in the bathroom.
He then died on February 18 when the last signal from the actor’s pacemaker was recorded.
The medical examiner ruled his cause of death as hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiac disease and noted that his Alzheimer’s will have played a “significant” role in his death.
He tested negative for hantavirus, Chief Medical Investigator Dr. Heather Jarrell revealed.
No one knew of the couple’s fates until February 26 when a neighbourhood caretaker called 911 after finding them unresponsive at the property.
Investigators are awaiting mobile phone records from the couple’s phones though it is “very unlikely” they will bring anything to light that authorities do not already know, Sheriff Adan Mendoza said in an update.
The couple was extremely private in their final years, living in an exclusive gated community.
Hackman is survived by two daughters and a son from a previous marriage.
CONTRACTOR WHO FOUND BODIES SPEAKS OUT
It comes as the contractor who found Hackman and Arakawa’s decomposing bodies last month described the time he made the chilling discovery as “one of the worst days of my life.”
Jesse Kesler, 52, who worked as Hackman’s contractor and handyman for 16 years, was one of the two workers who found the couple and one of their beloved dogs dead on February 26 – and has spent the last few weeks agonising over whether he could have saved them.
“I wish I’d gone in quicker … I might have been able to save Gene or the dog,” Kessler told the DailyMail.
“To be honest, it was awful. It was one of the worst days of my life, and I’ve had some bad days. To see someone like that …,” he said, his voice breaking.
“I was hoping for a better outcome, that maybe they were out of town and they just didn’t tell anyone, or they got locked in the wine cellar by accident.”
Arakawa was dead for about a week before Hackman, authorities revealed last week.
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Originally published as Battle over Gene Hackman’s $125m fortune as will revealed