More answers are needed to determine Christian Brando's cause of death, authorities said Tuesday.
The 49-year-old son of Marlon Brando died Saturday at a Los Angeles hospital. An initial autopsy did not immediately identify what killed him, meaning that additional tests, including toxicology screens, will be required, Los Angeles coroner's official Ed Winter said.
The tests may determine whether Brando had prescription or other drugs in his system at the time of his death and whether he suffered from a medication condition that contributed to his demise.
Results are expected to be available within six to eight weeks.
Brando had been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia on Jan. 11 and a lawyer for his father's estate said that was the cause of his death.
His long-estranged mother, Anna Kashfi, requested the autopsy based on her son's past drug history, attorney David J. Seeley said.
"At this point, we have no reason to question the hospital's actions and the cause of death," Seeley told the Associated Press.
He said the request for the autopsy had nothing to do with Marlon Brando's estate, nor its beneficiaries.
Christian Brando was one of nine children listed as beneficiaries of his father's estate. The Oscar winner noted in his will that he had 11 children in all, including a daughter, Cheyenne, who committed suicide in 1995, and an adopted daughter who was not a beneficiary.
Christian Brando's former attorney Benjamin Brin called the situation around his onetime client's death "very sad" and questioned the value of an autopsy.
He said that Brando's girlfriend, Donna Goans, was in the process of making funeral arrangements when Kashfi demanded the procedure.
"We all know 49-year-old people aren't supposed to die," Brin told the AP. "We're going to find out what was different about him. There'll be some explanation. It may be his, you know, partying ways in the past. It may be even something more recent that some people will find pruriently interesting. It won't bring him back."
Meanwhile, Brando's ex-wife, Deborah Brando, sued the executors of Marlon Brando's estate Monday, claiming she is a victim of professional negligence, fraud and deceit.
In her court documents, she alleges that as part of a February 2007 settlement with her ex-husband in a domestic violence case, she was designated assignee of Christian Brando's rights and claims in the estate.
She accuses the executors of drafting a forged codicil to Marlon Brando's will in the days before his death in July 2004 to prevent challenges to the will or trust.
The estate has vowed to "vigorously defend" itself against the lawsuit.