Two-time Oscar winner Gene Hackman and his wife of 34 years, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their home in February. An investigation revealed that she had died first, and Mr. Hackman about a week later. Their wills, filed in probate court two weeks later, reveal a thoughtful estate plan.
Simultaneous deaths. Under the common law, when two people died together but there was evidence that one had lived even slightly longer, their estates would be distributed according to the order of death. Many states have resolved this problematic ambiguity with the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, under which each spouse is treated as having died first if they in fact die within 120 hours of each other. However, this rule of interpretation may be replaced in one’s will.
Betsy did exactly that. Her will left all of her property to Gene, provided he survived her by 90 days, which he did not. In that case, her assets were to be divided among several charities.
Financial privacy. Early reports about the couple’s wills noted that the adult children from Gene’s first marriage were not mentioned. While that is true, it does not tell us much about the estate plan. Gene’s will poured his estate, estimated to be worth about $80 million, into a living trust that he created in 1995. The details of that trust have not been revealed, and they may never be revealed. It is possible that the children have always been trust beneficiaries.
Choice of successor trustee. Gene’s will named Betsy as executor of his estate, and she was to receive the estate assets acting as the trustee of Gene’s trust. His will provided that his lawyer was to be the trustee in the event that Betsy died before he did. However, the lawyer died before both of them, in 2019! After that happened, the will was amended naming Julia Peters of the Avalon Trust Company as successor trustee after Betsy. Ms. Peters has been tasked with settling both estates.
As an alternative to naming an individual as trustee, one may nominate a trust company, such as Garden State Trust Company, for this important role. That largely removes the possibility of outliving one’s designated trustee.
In the months ahead we may learn more about the disposition of the Hackman estate. Or we may not, given that the trust terms are shrouded in secrecy. There are no obvious signs as yet of the type of discord that sometimes emerges with celebrity estates.
