Heath Ledger died on January 22, 2008, at age 28, unaware that his will contained an error that would hurt later.
He had drawn it up in 2003, two years before his only daughter, Matilda, was born from his relationship with Michelle Williams. So, when the time came to distribute his 16.3 million dollars, the law recognized only his parents, Kim and Sally, and his sisters as heirs. Matilda, the girl he had most wanted to protect, was not listed in any document.
But the family did not need a document to tell them what to do. They transferred every dollar to Matilda through a trust, and his father confirmed it to People months later: that had been the plan from day one. When Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law finished Heath’s final film, they did not think twice either: they donated their full salaries so that their friend’s daughter would have what he had not managed to leave her in writing.
