Heath Ledger - News Accounts

[Fran]

Over at FoxNews.com, the headline reads:  Heath Ledger's Will Ignores Daughter --

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336280,00.html

-- making it sound as if Heath had deliberated disinherited Matilda when, in fact, the will had been created years before she was even born and he had just never gotten around to updating it.  Let's face it, how many 28-year-olds are thinking about estate planning?  It's easily something that's put off for later, only in this case, there was no later.

If Heath had left no will, Matilda would have inherited everything because she would have been his only heir.  In any event, I think the government is going to end up with a big chunk of the estate.   But maybe probate taxes are different in Australia.

Larry Williams should stay out of it until he settles his own legal battles, IMHO.

[Kd5000]

What do you expect of FOX. Slant the story from the worse possible angle with a headline like HEATH IGNORES DAUGHTER.  It makes him sound selfish when in fact he loved his daughter.

[Fran]

What do you expect of FOX.

Good point.

[yb]

I am having a sick feeling of this. 

[louisev]

I think there is an entirely different way of thinking about the fact that Heath had not updated his will since 2003:  he was obviously not contemplating suicide.

[yb]

I think there is an entirely different way of thinking about the fact that Heath had not updated his will since 2003:  he was obviously not contemplating suicide.

Louise, that's exactly what I thought yesterday after reading the news. 

There's no way he would have cut Matilda from his will, she's the love of his life.

[Ellemeno]

[mvansand76]

They did the same thing in the paper here in Holland, "Ledger leaves nothing to his daughter" or something along those lines. The media makes me sick.

[TOoP/Bruce]

The assets outlined in the will clearly predate his relationship with Michelle.  It is possible that the house Heath and Michelle owned in Brooklyn was held in "joint tenancy with rights of survivorship" which would bypass the will entirely.

Nothing is indicated about the what trusts were established.  There really isn't enough information here to be able to make any real determination of what was really left to whom.  Additonally, no mention is made of whether he had any sort of life insurance, but life insurance beneficiaries are also a totally separate matter from a will.

If in fact Heath didn't provide for his daughter Matilda, then Michelle has every legal right to challenge the will on Matilda's behalf and most likely the courts will rule to some degree in her favor.

[louisev]

New tribute interview with Michelle Williams and Naomi Watts coming up in April - People has previews:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20183961,00.html

Michelle Williams, Naomi Watts Pay Tribute to Heath Ledger
By Brian Orloff

Originally posted Thursday March 13, 2008 12:20 PM EDT
Heath Ledger
 
Photo by: John Stanton / Getty Images 
Michelle Williams, Naomi Watts, Ellen DeGeneres and several of Heath Ledger's other close industry friends share fond memories of the late actor in the April issue of Interview magazine. Written as a conversation, the tribute remembers Ledger's work ethic, his off-screen persona and his love of chess. Below are some excerpts from the article:

• Naomi Watts: "He was a huge, obsessive, chess freak – and very, very good at it."

• Michelle Williams: "He had uncontrollable energy. He buzzed ... His mind was turning, turning, turning – always turning."

• Ellen DeGeneres: "He didn't try to be something that he wasn't. And I appreciated that."

• Phillip Seymour Hoffman: "Whenever Heath talked about something he liked, he did it in the way that any fan would. He wasn't somebody trying to cover up his excitement about something, or someone."

• Todd Haynes: "That performance in Brokeback Mountain was such a sensitive, understated, controlled interpretation of this character. The entire emotional power of that film, which is enormous, resides in that performance, and how much Heath holds in."