Heath Ledger's will was written before his daughter was born and left her nothing

Heath Ledger died in his Manhattan apartment at 28 from an accidental overdose of six prescription drugs. His three-page will, signed in 2003, left everything to his parents, Kim and Sally, and his three sisters. His daughter Matilda, with the actress Michelle Williams, was born on 28 October 2005, two years after the will. She was not in it. The will was filed in Manhattan Surrogate's Court with New York assets of $145,000; most of the estate was handled in Australia. In March 2008 his uncles, Haydn and Mike Ledger, objected to Kim managing the money and pointed to Kim's removal as executor of another family estate. The Australian executor called their claims "rubbish." On 27 September 2008 Kim Ledger said the family would pass the estate, about US$16.3 million, to Matilda. A $10 million life insurance policy for Matilda was disputed by the insurer, ReliaStar, which raised suicide and misrepresentation; the suit settled confidentially in January 2009. Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight. Matilda took ownership of it when she turned 18 in 2023. In 2026 no public court record confirms the family's transfer of the estate to her.