dog death determined to be dehydration and starvation
There’s no God.
This all makes me sad but for some reason, that is the saddest. Shouldn’t be since my picturing of Gene in that period is so sad, but that dog stuck in a crate… 
I hate to think about this in too much detail, but I’m puzzled that the death was due to dehydration AND starvation. Wouldn’t an animal die of dehydration long before it starved, assuming it wasn’t initially malnourished?
Maybe it had water in the crate for a couple days. Started starving. Dehydration took over.
Yes there is.
Moderating:
This is not the place for that debate. Cut it out.
Well …
Apparently the warm relationship is not the most probable?
there is no such thing as irony
It’s also entirely possible that Betsy was in denial (either willfully or unwillingly) about how poor his condition actually was. I saw that a lot in my time as an EMT. People around a sick person oftentimes will not accept the reality of their spouse’s health because they interact with them on a daily basis, it can be very difficult to notice a downward spiral when you see them every day.
@Baker, I’m sorry I said that.
That article mentions that the wife’s will said that if they died close together, the estate would go to charity. But since she died first, the question is whether something similar is in Hackman’s will.
It’s common for states to consider close-together deaths to be simultaneous (thus avoiding a double probate and other problems) But if one of the “simultaneous” dead people’s will says something else that will be for the lawyers to hash over.
Apparently his said all goes to her.
Their case may be if he was “of sound mind”?
Yeah a contested estate is just a sad cherry on the top of the story.
Right, but if his will didn’t specify that close-together deaths count as simultaneous, then the bequest to her is skipped, or else goes to her estate, depending on wording & local laws. His will might have specified a back-up plan, or not; it might go to her estate, and thus to charity; it might go to his kids by default.
It is unlikely it would go to “her estate”. Since he died last, either his will specifies who gets their estates or in the case it being deemed simultaneous (which is very likely), then the estates go to whoever they jointly specified. If there is a difference in what happens in the latter case, then it will be a problem. E.g., in the case of being simultaneous deaths, if Gene’s will says “it goes to charity X” and Betsy’s will says “it goes to charity Y” then the lawyers for X and Y will rack up some fees. If both wills were done by the same people that shouldn’t have happened but you never know.
If Gene’s children get the right lawyers and jurors, what’s in the will might be ignored. E.g., Groucho Marx left his estate to long-term girlfriend Erin Fleming. His kids went to court claiming blah-blah-blah and they won. Even testimony from people like Dick Cavett didn’t matter. You may remember her as the date in the last segment of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask).
He made the will in 1995. That was nine years before he made his final movie. The family may have grounds to contest the will, but proving he wasn’t mentally capable at that time will be a heavy lift.
My understanding is that they specified that within 90 days counts as “simultaneous” for estate purposes.
@Kent_Clark if so and no changes in recent years then yeah.
The quote above was clear about this for her will, but not for his. I would think that a happily married couple would have their wills drawn up at the same time by the same person (and thus with the same language), but I didn’t know for sure.
IANA medical professional of any sort, so there’s quite a bit I don’t know about hantavirus. With that said, I’m having trouble picturing Ms. Arakawa going from healthy enough to look after herself and her husband to incapacitated/dead so fast she couldn’t have realized something was wrong and called for backup helpers, such as family, friends, staff, medical professionals…
Just not understanding why she didn’t call for someone else to help when she realized she was ill.
IANAD either, but from what I’ve read, there are three phases of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The first is asymptomatic and lasts for several weeks. The second phase produces flu-like symptoms and lasts 2-10 days. In the third phase you start bleeding internally, your lungs fill with fluid and about 40% of the time, you die. It sounds like the third phase happens quite quickly. I don’t think it’s unreasonable that someone experiencing flu-like symptoms for a few days doesn’t call for medical aid.