A long-simmering financial feud between Heath Ledger's father and uncles can't seem to rest in peace.
Mike and Haydn Ledger have voiced concerns about their brother, and Heath's father, Kim, suggesting he might mishandle his son's sizable estate. The brothers point to Kim's supposed mismanagement of their grandfather's finances and say they want to ward off repeat behavior with regard to the Oscar-nominated actor's holdings.
The brothers Ledger, who have been estranged from Kim for 15 years and who were persona non grata at Heath's hometown memorial, first aired their dirty laundry over the weekend in Australia's Sunday Times, saying they chose to speak out about their family feud now, rather than earlier, so as not to bring undue attention on their late nephew's life.
"Once Heath got up and going, we were just so proud of him, and we didn't want to do anything to muddy his career," Haydn Ledger told the newspaper. "We had enormous respect for him.
"If these events hadn't happened, we would never have said anything publicly about Kim."
The brothers also claim they only proffered their opinion on Kim's financial management skills—or lack thereof—out of concern for Heath's daughter, Matilda, and after being asked by Michelle Williams' father, Larry.
"It's been portrayed as sour grapes, but this has only come about by two brothers offering their opinion when it was asked for by Larry Williams," Haydn Ledger told the Times, adding in The Australian, "Larry made contact with Mike and I and just asked, 'Is Kim the kind of guy capable of handling this estate?' and we told him, given the history, we think not."
Kim's handling of the estate of his grandfather, the noted Australian engineer Sir Frank Ledger, ended in contentious litigation that ultimately divided the Ledger family.
Kim took control of the multimillion-dollar estate in 1986. Soon after, Mike Ledger told People, "it plunged into enormous debt," and the brothers publicly blamed Kim for denying them $2.5 million to which they claimed they were entitled. A Supreme Court judge subsequently, and at the behest of a group of extended Ledger family members, removed Kim as executor of the estate.
As for Heath's will, drafted prior to his coupling with Williams and the birth of their daughter, it leaves everything to his parents and sister, though his father was quick to publicly state that Williams and Matilda will be "taken care of" and equally as quick to decry his estranged brothers' concerns.
"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," Kim said last week.
Mike and Haydn Ledger, meanwhile, took pains to point out in the various publications in which they aired their familial grievances that they were not seeking any cut of the star's will themselves, telling the Times that "the money is not an issue and it never has been."
"We're not hunting for anything. That belongs to Matilda."