The details of Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s wills have been revealed two weeks after they were both found dead in their New Mexico home.
Hackman left his estimated $80 million fortune to Arakawa, his successor trustee, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.
The legendary actor, who had Alzheimer’s disease, had not updated his will since June 2005.
It is unclear whether Hackman’s three children — Christopher, 65, Leslie, 58, and Elizabeth, 62 — were named in the legal document.
Due to Arakawa’s death — which preceded Hackman’s by one week — the money likely will still be passed to his kids, whom he shared with his late ex-wife, Faye Maltese.
However, given the uncertainty of Hackman’s beneficiaries, there could be a legal battle brewing between Christopher, who reportedly has hired a high-powered attorney, and his two sisters.
Meanwhile, Arakawa’s assets were designated to a trust, which will pay out all her medical debts before being distributed to different charities.
The pianist did not have children of her own.
Attorney Julia Peters has been appointed as the executor of both wills, according to the outlet.
Peters also filed paperwork to block the public release of autopsy and investigative reports, specifically photographs and police body-camera video from the scene.
Last month, the two-time Oscar winner “died as a result of his heart disease with the Alzheimer’s being a contributing factor.” He was 95.
Although his body was not discovered until Feb. 26, he is believed to have died on Feb. 18 — according to his pacemaker, which last recorded activity that day.
The “French Connection” actor, who was found dead near his kitchen, was likely living at home alone with the body of his wife unknowingly for a full week due to the progressive neurodegenerative disease.
Arakawa, for her part, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a rare, flu-like illness spread mainly by rodent feces that attacks the lungs — on Feb. 11. It is unclear how she contracted the disease. She was 65.
She was found lying on her side in a bathroom with signs of “mummification.”
One of the late couple’s friends later told the New York Times that Hackman would have died “long ago” without Arakawa’s help.
“She was very protective of him,” Tom Allin told the newspaper, noting that she “just really looked after him.”
Arakawa was married to Hackman for 34 years before their deaths. The couple lived a very private life in Santa Fe and was last photographed together during a dinner date in March 2024.
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