Featured Image Credit: Ron Davis/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Gene Hackman
Brenna Cooper
A serious mistake made by legendary actor Gene Hackman prior to his death leaves major question marks surrounding the future of his £62 million estate.
On 27 February, the Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found deceased in their New Mexico home alongside their three dogs, one of which had also passed away.
An investigation into Hackman and Arakawa's deaths later determined that The Royal Tenenbaums star had likely died from heart disease with advanced Alzheimer's as a 'significant contributory factor'.
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Meanwhile Arakawa's, 65, cause of death was believed to have been from complications of hantavirus. It's also believed that she'd passed away a number of days before her husband.
Further complications regarding the future of Hackman's estate have since arisen after it was revealed that both of the trustees selected by the actor had passed away before him.
Prior to his death Hackman had set up a living trust and appointed both Arakawa as the successor. He'd also selected attorney Michael G. Sutin as back-up, however Business Insider reports that he'd passed away in 2019.
Arakawa had been named as the sole beneficiary in 1995, with the most recent update being in 2005.
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Which throws up further questions about how Hackman's £62 million fortune will be dealt with.
According to MailOnline, a district judge in New Mexico approved a request from Avalon Trust, LLC to be made temporary successor to the estate in order to deal with how the late actor's fortune is dished out.
"Mr. Hackman did [pick successor trustees], but the people he picked all passed away before he did," financial expert Laura Cowan told the outlet.
The appointment of a temporary successor should allow for Hackman's estate to continue functioning as well as identifying potential beneficiaries to his vast fortune.
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Cowan also explained how the situation around Hackman's estate highlights the importance of not only creating a will, but keeping it regularly updated so that there is no confusion when it comes to dividing up assets.
"The first problem is that his will was 20 years old. And now there’s the question about whether it really reflect his wishes," she explained.
"And then there is also the issue that he and his wife died around the same time. Who died first and where will the money go?"
It's currently unclear if Hackman's three children from a previous marriage were left anything in the actor's will, however California attorney Tre Lovell believes the estate may default to them — as long as no other beneficiary comes forward.
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"The estate will actually be probated in accordance with intestate succession laws and the children would be lawfully next in line to inherit," he told the BBC.