Featured Image Credit: Ron Davis/Getty Images
Topics: Gene Hackman, Celebrity, US News
Joe Yates
For the last month, the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have dominated the news agenda around the world.
Speculation circled over how the 95-year-old actor and his classical pianist partner died, after the bodies of both were discovered on February 26 in two separate rooms at their New Mexico abode, with many believing it was due to a gas leak.
Nine days later, chief medical examiner Dr Heather Jarrell confirmed the pair's cause of deaths.
She said: "The cause of death for Mr. Gene Hackman, aged 95 years, is hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with Alzheimer's disease as a significant contributory factor."
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Dr Jarrell also confirmed Betsy died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, adding 'the manner of death is natural'.
Hantavirus is a rare infectious disease that begins with flu-like symptoms and progresses rapidly to a more severe disease. It can lead to life-threatening lung and heart problems.
With all the speculation put to bed, the two-time Oscar-winner's three children have discovered what will happen with his will.
Hackman's will has been released in the wake of his passing, and reveals that the Oscar-winner left his entire estate to Betsy.
Prior to his marriage to Betsy, Hackman welcomed three children with his ex-wife Faye Maltese: 65-year-old Christopher Allen Hackman, 62-year-old Elizabeth Jean Hackman and 58-year-old Leslie Anne Hackman
Legal documents cited by BBC News show that Hackman named Betsy as the sole beneficiary to his fortune in 1995, and last updated the document in 2005.
With Betsy having also died, the fate of Hackman's fortune now remains uncertain.
In an interview with BBC News, California attorney Tre Lovell shed some light on the situation and explained that Hackman's children could end up receiving the estate due to succession laws, as long as there is no other beneficiary named and they are able to prove that Betsy died before Hackman, making his will invalid.
He explained: "The estate will actually be probated in accordance with intestate succession laws and the children would be lawfully next in line to inherit."
However, as the pair both died just weeks apart - it is believed that Hackman would have been living at home with his wife's corpse for about a week - they both named their attorney Michael G. Sutin as first successor for personal representative of their estates.
But Sutin tragically also died, back in 2019.
The pair planned for that tragic outcome, and appointed Julia L. Peters as the second successor for personal representation of Hackman's estate.
She has in turn listed all three of the actor's children, according to People.