Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s wills reveal estate and trust plans

Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa’s estate plans involve a trust managing their combined assets after death.

The wills of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, confirm that they left their estates to each other, with their assets now placed in a trust following their deaths.

According to probate records from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Hackman, the Oscar-winning actor, named Arakawa as the personal representative of his estate and the successor trustee of his Gene Hackman Living Trust. Arakawa’s will similarly directed her estate to the trustee of Hackman’s trust should he outlive her.

After their passing—Arakawa on February 11, 2025, from Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and Hackman a week later at age 95 from natural causes—the estates transferred into a trust. However, without public trust documents, it remains unclear how their assets will be divided.

Julia L. Peters, an official at a Santa Fe trust company, has been appointed as the personal representative for both estates, as Arakawa and first successor Michael G. Sutin are deceased. Peters has notified Hackman’s three children from his previous marriage—Christopher, Elizabeth, and Leslie Hackman—of the appointment.

Hackman’s estate includes assets from his GeBe Revocable Trust, dating back to 1994, which also passes into the Gene Hackman Living Trust. Arakawa’s will stipulated that if Hackman predeceased her, any remaining funds would go into a charitable trust benefiting the community.

With both wills now in probate, Peters is responsible for ensuring their estate plans are executed per their wishes.