Gene Hackman’s children could still inherit his $80M fortune despite not being named in will

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: Hollywood legend Gene Hackman’s tragic death at 95 has given rise to questions about the fate of his $80 million fortune.

Despite not naming his three children in his will, they could still end up inheriting his massive estate—all thanks to a legal technicality and an eerie timeline that's left experts scratching their heads.

Gene Hackman's estate could default to his children

Gene Hackman, best known for 'The French Connection' and 'Unforgiven', had been married to Betsy Arakawa for 30 years. In his will—last updated in 2005—he named her as the sole beneficiary.

As per the autopsy report, the 65-year-old died a week before Hackman in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home. And according to some experts, that changes everything.

California attorney Tre Lovell broke it down. "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.

Since Arakawa died before Hackman, the will could essentially become invalid—and under intestate succession laws, the estate might default to Hackman’s three children: Christopher, 65, Elizabeth, 62, and Leslie, 58.

However, Arakawa’s own will makes things even messier.

Betsy Arakawa's will throws a curveball

Betsy Arakawa had set up her own estate plan, leaving her assets to Gene Hackman. However, she added one crucial clause: if they died within 90 days of each other, her estate would be placed in a trust and later donated to charity.

Now, Hackman’s children could claim their father’s will was invalid due to his wife’s earlier death. But if Arakawa’s 90-day clause holds up, it could divert her fortune away from the family entirely.

So, will Hackman's children step up to challenge the will? So far, they haven’t commented publicly on the brewing estate drama.

While they have largely stayed out of the public eye, they did occasionally attend red-carpet events with their father.

"He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us, he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss," Hackman's daughters and granddaughter shared in a statement after his death.

What really happened to Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa?

Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s deaths have raised more questions than answers.

Authorities initially called the scene "suspicious" before later ruling out foul play. Arakawa was found in the bathroom with pills scattered nearby, while Hackman was discovered in a separate room wearing sweatpants and slippers, with his cane and sunglasses beside him.

A doctor recently disputed the official timeline of Arakawa's death.

Dr Josiah Child, a former emergency care specialist who runs Cloudberry Health in Santa Fe, dropped a bombshell to the Daily Mail: "Mrs Hackman didn’t die on February 11 because she called my clinic on February 12."

Child elaborated, "She’d called me a couple of weeks before her death to ask about getting an echocardiogram [heart scan] for her husband. She was not a patient of mine, but one of my patients recommended Cloudberry to her. She made an appointment for herself for February 12. It was for something unrelated to anything respiratory."

That last detail is huge because Arakawa was reported to have died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome—a rare, often fatal disease transmitted by rodents. But Child isn't convinced.

"It is surprising that Mrs Hackman spoke to my office on the phone and didn’t appear to be in respiratory distress," he pointed out, adding that most hantavirus patients die in hospitals, not at home.

Hackman, who suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s, reportedly lived alone for days after Arakawa’s death. Some reports suggest he may not have even realized she had died.

The Oscar-winning actor is said to have succumbed to heart failure on February 18, with Alzheimer's listed as a contributing factor.