Heath Leaves Everything to Parents, Sisters

Actor drafted will in 2003, before his relationship with Michelle Williams and the birth of Matilda

By Sarah Hall Mar 08, 2008 9:12 PMTags

Before Heath Ledger scaled the heights of Brokeback Mountain, he was looking out for the folks back home.

In a will he drafted in 2003 and filed in his native Australia, the actor left everything he owned to his parents and three sisters. (View the documents.)

The will predates Ledger's relationship with Michelle Williams and the birth of their two-year-old daughter, Matilda. However, the actor's father, Kim, made it clear that the two of them would be taken care of in an appropriate manner. 

"Matilda is our absolute priority and Michelle is an integral part of our family," Kim Ledger said in a statement. "They will be taken care of and that's how Heath would want it to be."

Ledger's rep also stressed that provisions would be made for Williams and Matilda.

"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," she told People.

According to documents filed in Manhattan Surrogate's Court, Ledger had less than $145,000 in New York assets at the time of his Jan. 22 death, including about $100,000 in bank accounts, a $25,000 Toyota Prius and $20,000 in furniture and fixtures.

However, those holdings are little indication of the true size of Ledger's estate, which may include the Brooklyn townhouse he shared with Williams during their relationship, as well as any property holdings in Australia or money he had stashed away in trusts.

The bulk of Ledger's estate will be handled in Australia, according to the New York Daily News.

The court documents also reveal that the Ledger family spent $39,000 on a memorial service for the actor at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home, including $25,000 for his casket and $450 for 40 certified copies of his death certificate.

Ledger's lawyer, Harvey Corn, has asked a judge to seal the documents to protect the family's privacy.

"While the case...has generated extraordinary public interest, it has also, unfortunately, brought out the worst in human nature," the attorney wrote in the filing, pointing out that one imposter posed as Ledger's father, Kim, and made calls to celebrities including John Travolta and Tom Cruise in his name.

The actor's untimely death was ruled to be the result of an accidental overdose of prescription medications.

Six different prescription drugs were found in his apartment at the time of his death, including Oxycontin, Vicodin, Xanax, Valium, the antianxiety and sleeping aid temazenam and the sleeping aid doxylamine.

The Drug Enforcement Agency is conducting an ongoing investigation to determine whether there were valid medical conditions attached to each of the prescriptions.