The Family Feud That Heath Left Behind

Just a couple of months after Heath Ledger’s tragic death, a bitter – and very public – family feud is brewing over the distribution of the actor’s fortune. Heath died of an accidental drug overdose in his New York apartment on January 22. He was 28 years old. While tributes poured in from friends and fans across the world, tensions quickly began to simmer amongst Ledger’s family, all because Heath’s will was outdated.

 

The late actor’s will was filed in 2003, before he met and fell in love with actress Michelle Williams (and well before the birth of their daughter in 2005), and before his career-defining, Oscar-nominated role in Brokeback Mountain. The will claims the actor had less than $145,000 in assets, including a $25,000 Toyota Prius and $20,000 in furniture and fixtures, which were left entirely to his parents and his sister. The will made no mention of his New York house, his Australian properties or the money he’d earned in the last four years.

 

A memorial service took place for Heath in Australia on February 9, and was attended by immediate family, Michelle Williams, former co-stars Cate Blanchett and Gemma Ward, and some local acquaintances. But 17 of Ledger's aunts, uncles and cousins were absent from the service, due to a bitter dispute over money that began soon after Heath's great-grandfather Frank Ledger became too ill to manage his own affairs. The uncles have publicly claimed that Kim mishandled the management of Frank's estate 15 years ago and was removed as executor.

The feud between Heath’s dad Kim and his brothers Mike and Hayden worsened when they were not invited to Heath’s memorial, and they spoke out publicly to express the pain of not being able to farewell their nephew. “We respect that Kim is grieving his son," Mike said in a statement. "We are working through our own grief for Heath. It's not that we went looking to make trouble for Kim... This whole feud is confusing because we have never done anything to him.”

 

But although they say they don’t want to make any trouble, Mike and Hayden’s actions seem to show otherwise – they have publicly accused Heath’s father of mismanaging their grandfather's estate and have suggested that he shouldn’t be trusted with Heath’s. They even went so far as to claim that Kim may not intend to make sure that Michelle Williams and daughter Matilda will be looked after, as he had promised.

 

“I'm concerned for Matilda,” Heath’s uncle told Australian press. “I have concerns about the distribution of funds.” Michelle’s outspoken father Larry has also waded into the very-public debate, questioning if Kim is “capable” of handling Ledger's estate. “We said we don’t think so, considering what happened with our grandfather's estate,” Mike Ledger told the media.

Kim Ledger quickly rubbished the claims through a family spokesperson, and spoke of his disgust that his brothers were speaking publicly on the matter. “It is sad at this extremely difficult time in our lives, while we are grieving the loss of our beloved son that estranged family members publicly discuss matters they have not been privy to in the past or now,” said Kim via his representative. “We hope for Matilda's sake they will remain dignified.”

 

He later added: “The story is getting taken out of context and media is speculating that this means Matilda and Michelle will not be taken care of. I want to make it very clear nothing could be farther from the truth. Matilda is our absolute priority and Michelle is an integral part of our family. They will be taken care of and that's how Heath would want it to be.”

 

It's unfortunate that the memory of Heath Ledger is being overshadowed by the public bickering of family members. Surely that isn’t the best way to pay tribute to such a gifted young actor.

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