When Heath Ledger died in January of a drug overdose, he left behind not only the unfinished film The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, but family and a young daughter, Matilda. Ledger had never married Matilda’s mother, Brokeback Mountain co-star Michelle Williams, but the two lived together for the first year of Matilda’s life. Shortly after Ledger’s death, there was speculation that he’d disniherited Matilda, since she wasn’t included in his Will.

Ledger had willed his estate to his parents and three siblings, via a trust, though it seems that the family has decided to agree with the direction New York State law would have taken the issue, and given the entire sixteen-million-dollar estate to Matilda. While his Will hadn’t included Matilda, it was made before she was born and not altered afterwards, making her “afterborn” and thus entitled to whatever share of the inheritance she reasonably had a right to expect. As Ledger’s only child, and as there’s no wife involved, Matilda receives the entire estate. It seems the family may have done this voluntarily or through their own decision, preventing an appeal of the will in the courts, since Heath Ledger’s father, Kim Ledger, told OK! Magazine that “There is no claim,” and, “Our family has gifted everything to Matilda.”

Now, the trust set up to keep the rather large estate safe for Matilda, since, as a toddler, it’s unlikely she’s going to be able to navigate the financial markets during these perilous times and invest that money well, has begun to sue the company which held her father’s life insurance policy for the $10,000,000 death benefit she’s due. (Hopefully she’s too young to remember this part very clearly).

The company holding Ledger’s insurance, ING, a Dutch company, is investigating the death, as it seems a suicide or some other unfortunate occurance would let them avoid actually paying out the $10 Million they insured Ledger for. So, they’re poking around and checking medical and psychological records, and all sorts of other things that a prudent company issuing a $10 Million life insurance policy would normally do before insuring their client. Plus, it’s Illegal in California to investigate and deny life insurance coverage after the fact, and Ledger might have lived in Californa (it’s so hard to figure out where you live when you have so many homes!). But, in any case, they’re launching an investigation and delaying paying out the settlement until after they’ve finished questioning Mary Kate Olsen. While Olsen, a close friend of Ledger’s whose body guards discovered Ledger’s corpse, hasn’t talked to the police or the press about the incident, it remains to be seen who will budge first in this standoff. Hopefully Matilda’s trust will be able to win this one, so the poor girl has something to console her as she remembers her painful, letigious toddler years.