Gene Hackman estate dispute continues one year after deaths

Gene Hackman’s reported $80 million estate remains tied up in court one year after he and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead in their Santa Fe home on Feb. 26, 2025. Authorities determined Arakawa died on Feb. 11 from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and Hackman died on Feb.

18 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with Alzheimer’s as a contributing factor; he was 95 and she was 65. Their bodies were discovered days later in a house described as hoarder-like. Attorney Julia L. Peters filed to be personal representative of Hackman’s estate on March 6, 2025, noting that Arakawa had been the first named personal representative, followed by the actor’s attorney Michael G.

Sutin, and then Peters. Hackman’s Last Will and Testament, dated June 7, 2005, was included in the filings; while it mentions his three children from a previous marriage—Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie—it does not name any of them as personal representative.

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