{"id":956713,"date":"2026-07-24T18:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/956713\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T18:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T18:18:12","slug":"gene-hackmans-80m-estate-case-stalls-as-personal-representative-reveals-tax-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/956713\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene Hackman’s $80M estate case stalls as personal representative reveals tax woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gene Hackman\u2019s $80 million estate case remains ongoing<\/a> with the actor\u2019s personal representative citing tax woes as the reason for the holdup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In court papers obtained by Page Six, a Santa Fe County court judge filed a \u201cnotice of inactivity\u201d because there hasn\u2019t been a filing in the case \u201cfor a substantial period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Personal Representative Julia L. Peters requested the court keep the case open, writing in her response, \u201cThe Estate has filed an Estate Tax Return with the IRS, and there are pending tax matters relating to the estate which need to be completed prior to closing the estate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gene Hackman\u2019s estate case remains open over one year after his death. (He is pictured above at an event in California in 2001.) Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hackman\u2019s personal representative cited \u201cpending tax matters\u201d as the reason for the holdup. (Hackman pictured with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, in 1986.) Getty Images<\/p>\n

Attorney Peters filed to be the personal representative of the estate on March 6, 2025.<\/p>\n

Hackman\u2019s wife, Betsy Arakawa, was initially named personal representative, followed by the actor\u2019s attorney, Michael G. Sutin and then Peters. With Arakawa and Sutin both deceased at the time of Hackman\u2019s passing, Peters took over.<\/p>\n

Peters noted in court papers that Hackman\u2019s last will and testament \u2013 dated June 7, 2005 was \u201cvalidly executed\u201d and included in the case.<\/p>\n

The estate is estimated at $80 million. (Hackman and Arakawa are pictured at the 60th Annual Golden Globes.) WireImage<\/p>\n

Hackman and Arakawa (seen at an event in 1991) were found dead in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home on Feb. 26, 2025.\u00a0 Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Hackman\u2019s three children from a previous marriage to Faye Maltese \u2014 Christopher, Elizabeth and Leslie \u2014 were not nominated to serve as a personal representative.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Gregory W. MacKenzie filed an appearance on behalf of Hackman\u2019s three children on March 20, 2025, but no further filings were made.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 1, 2025, court papers filed by Peters stated she had been \u201cworking diligently on the preparation of the inventory and the valuation of the property of the Decedent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters stated that she had prepared an inventory of the property owned by Hackman at the time of his death in an Oct. 24, 2025 filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Page Six previously reported that the estate owed<\/a> $98,345.29 on a Citibank credit card.<\/p>\n

Lawyers involved in the estate case did not respond to Page Six\u2019s request for comment. <\/p>\n

Hackman seen in a rare sighting years before his death. SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

Hackman with his two daughters \u2014 Elizabeth and Leslie \u2014 who he was estranged from at the time of his death. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hackman and Arakawa were found dead in their Santa Fe, NM, home<\/a> on Feb. 26, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cFrench Connection\u201d actor\u2019s date of death was determined to be Feb. 18 at age 95. Arakawa died from hantavirus infection<\/a> \u2013 a rare rodent-transmitted virus \u2013 days prior on Feb. 11. She was 65.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple wasn\u2019t found for days when a maintenance worker discovered their bodies<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arakawa\u2019s body began decomposing<\/a> and even showed signs of mummification, per officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their Santa Fe home (seen above) was found in a hoarder-like state. Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

A buyer was found for the home (pictured above) they died in just 11 days after it was listed for sale. Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office<\/p>\n

Their house was found to be in a hoarder-like state. The $6.25 million, 53-acre property was listed on Jan. 16 and found a buyer just 11 days later<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite being estranged from his children at the time of his death, his daughters and granddaughter told Page Six in a statement<\/a>, \u201cIt is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Gene Hackman, and his wife, Betsy. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us, he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gene Hackman\u2019s $80 million estate case remains ongoing with the actor\u2019s personal representative citing tax woes as the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":956714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,1899,181450,172,171,6335,207571,53,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-956713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-celebrity-estates","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-exclusive","tag-gene-hackman","tag-movies","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}