Chadwick Boseman’s Brothers Petition for Estate Administrator Removal
Chadwick Boseman’s brothers have petitioned a Los Angeles probate court for estate administrator removal, asking that the actor’s widow, Taylor Simone Ledward-Boseman, be stripped of control over his estate and held in contempt for failing to comply with a 2022 order requiring her to distribute half of it to Boseman’s parents. Derrick and Kevin Boseman filed on behalf of their parents, Leroy and Carolyn Boseman, ABC News reported on July 22.
Boseman died in August 2020 at age 43 without a will. Under California’s intestacy scheme, half of his estate passed to Ledward-Boseman, and his parents each inherited a 25 percent share. On October 4, 2022, a Los Angeles court ordered Ledward-Boseman, who had been appointed administrator, to distribute the remaining half of the estate to Leroy and Carolyn Boseman.
Nearly four years after that order, the petition alleges, “Respondent has still not distributed the estate, nor has she filed a petition for discharge with receipts as required.” Attorneys representing Ledward-Boseman had not publicly responded to the allegations as of July 27.
The Assets the Brothers Say Never Moved
The petition alleges that Ledward-Boseman “never fully distributed” the remaining 50 percent of the estate and that she “continues to exert unilateral control over Decedent’s estate,” according to language quoted by ABC News. The brothers tie that control to concrete harm, arguing the failure to distribute “deprives Leroy and Carolyn of financial assets at a vulnerable age.”
The assets identified in the petition include royalties and residuals, image and intellectual property rights, real property, “a previously undisclosed bank account at CNB,” and other personal property. Coverage by Complex, which reviewed the filing, describes the disputed pool as including more than $3 million in bank funds, SAG-AFTRA residuals, investments, and a long-term care policy the brothers say was intended to be transferred to Carolyn Boseman, according to Complex.
In a follow-up statement, the brothers said the petition was intended to bring “clarity, transparency, and accountability” to the administration, Complex reported.
Contempt, Administrator Removal, and a Forensic Accountant
The petition asks the court to compel Ledward-Boseman to show cause why she should not be held in contempt for failing to comply with the 2022 distribution order, and to compel full distribution of the estate assets. It also asks the court to remove her as administrator and to appoint a private professional fiduciary and forensic accountant in her place, identified in the filing as Jason Rubin, to investigate alleged mismanagement.
The brothers additionally ask the court to impose controls on future transactions involving Boseman’s name, image, and likeness, according to Complex’s summary of the filing.
Why the Estate Split Three Ways
Because Boseman died without a will, distribution is governed by California’s intestacy statute. Commentary published by two inheritance-law scholars notes that a surviving spouse does not automatically inherit the entirety of an intestate decedent’s estate; every state’s intestacy statute sets its own allocation among a surviving spouse and other heirs, Reid Kress Weisbord and Naomi Cahn wrote in The Conversation. California sorts the estate into two categories before that allocation runs. A surviving spouse takes all of the couple’s community property, meaning assets earned during the marriage, but where parents survive and there are no children, the spouse takes only half of the separate property, which covers assets acquired before the marriage or received by gift or inheritance afterward. Under that framework the estate divided 50 percent to Ledward-Boseman and 25 percent to each parent, the split reflected in the 2022 order.
The scholars, writing in a version of the piece republished by Fortune, note that appointing one heir to administer an estate in which other heirs hold significant shares can generate friction, and that courts retain authority to remove a fiduciary for serious misconduct.
Still Pending in Los Angeles
The matter is pending in Los Angeles Superior Court. No hearing date on the removal petition or the contempt request has been reported, and Ledward-Boseman has not filed a public response.
