A legal fight has broken out over the administration of Chadwick Boseman‘s estate, with his parents looking to remove his widow from her role overseeing its assets.
Boseman’s parents, Leroy and Carolyn, accuse Simone Ledward Boseman of violating a court order mandating the distribution of funds and mismanaging the company that holds Chadwick’s rights and prior works. The petition filed in California state court asks to hold her in contempt and issue an injunction barring her from exercising unilateral control over estate property.
Boseman died in August 2020 from colon cancer without a will. Under California law, his estate was divided equally between Ledward Boseman and his parents, who each got 25 percent.
According to the petition, funds haven’t been fully disbursed. Ledward Boseman “has still not distributed the estate, nor has she filed a petition for discharge,” states the filing, which notes that she continues to exercise “complete control” while shutting the actor’s family out of decisions involving assets they also own.
There’s roughly $3.8 million in the estate, including cash, retirement accounts, a long-term care insurance policy and Chadwick Boseman Inc., the company that holds rights connected to the actor’s name and intellectual property.
The petition, filed by Boseman’s brothers on behalf of his parents, accuses Ledward Boseman of failing to transfer some of those assets owed to the family while neglecting to account for residual payments from SAG-AFTRA and a previously undisclosed bank account. The $40,000 insurance policy belonging to Carolyn under a 2022 court order, for example, was never distributed.
Also involved in the dispute: Boseman’s image and intellectual property rights. Those rights are managed by Chadwick Boseman Inc., with Ledward Boseman and the actor’s parents each owning 50 percent. The petition claims that Ledward Boseman, who began dating the Black Panther actor in 2015 and married him in 2020, shortly before his death, has kept other family members in the dark regarding the company’s operations and appointed herself as CEO without holding board meetings. She’s allegedly used her control over the estate and the firm to enter into contracts assigning Chadwick’s rights and prior works, including a deal with Words + Pictures Productions for a documentary about the actor’s life. Another agreement involves a contract for production of Deep Azure, written by Chadwick.
“By holding herself out as the sole authority over Decedent’s assets, she is defrauding anyone she contracts with and puts those agreements at risk of recission,” the petition filed on July 17 states. “Meanwhile, Petitioners are blocked from pursuing lucrative business opportunities that might benefit Decedent’s elderly parents. Her continued control over the estate also sows distrust among the beneficiaries and harms the well-being of Decedent’s aging parents.”
In addition to seeking her removal as administrator, Boseman’s parent request an order requiring Ledward Boseman, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, to produce a complete accounting for every transaction made since she was appointed administrator in 2020.