Insurers Trying to Rob Heath Ledger's Baby of $10m
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
EMPRESS MATILDA Heath, Matilda Potential drama surrounding who would get Heath Ledger's $16 million estate was headed off after the Aussie actor's father decided to give the whole thing to Ledger's two-year-old daughter, Matilda. (She wasn't in the will initially, as the will was written before she was even born.) But there's a legal battle brewing over a $10 million life insurance payout that Matilda is also set to receive.
The New York City Medical Examiner officially ruled that Ledger's death was "accidental," but lawyers for ReliaStar, the insurance company that wrote out Ledger's policy six months before he died, are claiming that the policy should be nullified because Ledger's death was "suspicious," by which they mean that Ledger might have committed suicide. (They wouldn't have to pay out if Ledger took his own life.) ReliaStar is also contending that Ledger may have lied about whether or not he was taking prescription drugs when he filled out the application, and about whether or not he had ever used illegal drugs.
