The lawyers, those secondary actors of the Great Theater of Inheritance, will take care that the story does not end in a simple molten to black. Meanwhile, the function is thus around the last abode of Gene Hackmanunder the abrasing sky of Santa Fe. There death came twice before dust had time to settle. First, Betsy Arakawahis wife, fell victim of a hantavirus as rare as lethal. Seven days later, the actor, doubly Oscarized, followed her, betrayed by a heart that had beat for 95 years with the same intensity with which he played Harry Caul or the ruthless sheriff of the unforgivable. His house, now silent, was as an empty scenario, without protagonists, but with a last script still to reveal himself: his will.
A testament with questions
He Daily Mailalways eager for stories with inheritance blood and lawyer of lawyers, leaked the content of his last will. Eighty million dollars, nothing less, that had been put under the mantle of a Trust and entirely designated to Betsy, the wife already deceased. But the drama begins where logic ends.
If Betsy has died before he can claim his part, who stays with the treasure? On paper, his will is generous with the community: everything that was left without a recipient would go to a benefit foundation. Noble words, without a doubt, but among the margins of this document there are elongated shadows: three children of a previous marriage, three possible heirs who, until now, seem to have been erased from the equation.
Christopher, Leslie Anne y Elizabeth Jeanfruits of the union between Hackman and Faye Maltesehis first wife, do not appear in the latest known version of the will. Maybe they were ever. Maybe not. The truth is that his father’s fortune now rests in the hands of Avalon Trustan entity as opaque as the mysteries surrounding the document. And when there are doubts, there are always lawyers sharpening their claws.
Memory and forgetfulness
Beyond the dance of figures and signatures, a disturbing detail looms over the validity of the will: the date on which it was signed. According to the British tabloid, the document has the rubric of Hackman since June 7, 2005, but in recent years, the actor lived under the shadow of a disease that devours memories and will: Alzheimer’s.
The question is inevitable. When the exact moment the memory of Gene Hackman stopped belonging to him? If the will was modified after diagnosis, any judge could consider that their will had been manipulated. And if someone sees the possibility of challenging, the legal battle will soon explode.
The children, the widow and the fog of the law
The first blow has already been thrown. Christopher, the eldest son, has hired a lawyer specializing in litigation on inheritances and trusts. According to a source cited by the Daily Mailthis movement indicates that the war is underway. “If you have looked for a high -level lawyer, it is because there are problems. And if there are problems, it is because there is money in between“, the informant murmurs in the shadow.
The sisters, on the other hand, have remained in a discreet background. Leslie Anne, the daughter in the middle, assured the press that she had not seen her father in months, but that the relationship was good. “Everything was fine. They had a wonderful marriage“He said, although his voice showed an air of resignation.
But wonderful marriages do not necessarily write fair wills. In 1991, Hackman and Betsy Arakawa linked their destinations, but nobody knows if they did it with the signing of a prenuptial or postnupcial contract. If there was no, the actor’s children could be faced with a difficult legal wall. If there was, the key to your inheritance could be hidden in some Avalon Trust drawer.
The empty houses have long echoes. Now, in the Santa Fe mansion, only the weight of an unfinished story remains. A testament with diffuse clauses, a trustee that raises suspicions and three children who, from one day to another, have been out of the painting. Gene Hackman is no longer to clarify whether his last will was an act of love, forgotten or imposition of others.
