Chadwick Boseman estate dispute reveals family’s unanswered questions after his death

Documents show relatives questioned aspects of his treatment while his widow and family members disputed estate matters.

Newly revealed legal correspondence shows that Chadwick Boseman’s family raised questions about the actor’s medical treatment and an alleged opioid level in his system after his death in 2020.

The letters, obtained by TMZ, were exchanged between attorneys representing Boseman’s parents and brothers and his widow, Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman. They emerged as a separate legal dispute over control of Boseman’s estate continues between Ledward and his brothers Derrick and Kevin.

In a Nov. 16, 2020 letter, lawyers for Boseman’s parents, Leroy and Carolyn, and brothers Derrick and Kevin asked Ledward’s legal team to preserve data from his phones and other electronic devices. They also sought access to his medical records and financial information, saying they wanted to determine how his assets should be distributed in accordance with his wishes.

The correspondence became more pointed in August 2021. According to the family’s attorneys, an autopsy performed after Boseman’s death produced results that prompted concerns about the medical care he had received. The letter cited a toxicology result that allegedly showed 0.12 mg/L of hydromorphone, an opioid, in his system.

The family’s lawyers characterized that concentration as unusually high and said it raised questions about his treatment. However, the letter itself does not establish that hydromorphone caused or contributed to Boseman’s death.

Boseman died at 43 in August 2020 after privately battling colon cancer. His family’s newly surfaced correspondence does not change the publicly reported cause of death, and there is no evidence from the material reviewed that he was poisoned or that his death was treated as a homicide.

Ledward’s attorneys strongly rejected the family’s approach. In a December 2020 response, her lawyer described the correspondence as aggressive and disputed the implications being made about his client.

The letters also reveal that the family was seeking information about Boseman’s wishes for his estate, including an alleged recording concerning how residual income from his films should be divided.

The revelations arrive as Derrick and Kevin Boseman continue their legal effort to remove Ledward as administrator of the estate. Ledward has opposed that effort, while recent court filings show the dispute has become increasingly contentious.