LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Hayden Panettiere's ex-fiancée, former boxer Wladimir Klitschko, was granted legal authority by a California court Thursday to protect Panettiere's property for their 11-year-old daughter after the television star's accidental overdose death left the girl as her sole heir.
Klitschko had filed the urgent petition last week, saying that pieces of Panettiere's property were being taken by federal law enforcement agents investigating
her death and by an unnamed nonfamily member looking to sell them, with no one in a position to try to recover them for her daughter.
Klitschko, a Ukrainian former world champion boxer, has had full custody of the girl, Kaya, for most of her life, and she has lived with him in Ukraine. The father and daughter appeared in Los Angeles County court remotely via videoconference. They spoke only to introduce themselves at the brief hearing with only Kaya visible on camera, sitting at a table in front of curtains.
Judge Stephanie Santoro granted Klitschko the status of temporary guardian of Kaya's estate until a long-term administrator can be appointed.
Santoro asked Klitschko's lawyer, Diane Park, why the matter was urgent. Park said they believed a person described only as a nonrelative had taken items after Panettiere's death and had tried to sell some of her jewelry at a pawn shop. And she said assets were in danger of going unaccounted for during the death investigation. Court documents said authority was needed to deal with both the pawnshop owner and police agencies. Panettiere’s taxes also need to be filed this month, the lawyer said. Santoro, satisfied with the explanation, approved the move.
Panettiere, the former star of the TV series “Heroes” and “Nashville,” was pronounced dead in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 16 at age 36 after paramedics found her unresponsive. A coroner’s report obtained by The Associated Press said her death was from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl. She had been in rehab just weeks before. Her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home.
Park told Santoro that the property, the pawnshop and the nonfamily member were in Los Angeles County, where the judge's ruling held authority. Park declined to comment outside the courtroom.
Klitschko's Sept. 24 petition emphasized that his intention is solely to protect his daughter’s future assets until a permanent administrator can be put in place.
“There is a high probability that property belonging to Hayden’s Estate may be lost, damaged or dissipated," the document said.
The filing says that before her death, Panettiere and Klitschko hired security to protect her home because an unnamed person had gained unauthorized access, and it's expected the same person would continue to try to “misappropriate” her property.
Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, filed a document saying she consented to Klitschko being appointed.
Klitschko, 50, an Olympic gold medalist, held several heavyweight titles between 2000 and 2015. He and Panettiere began dating in 2009 and got engaged in 2013.
His older brother Vitali, also a former champion boxer, is mayor of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The two brothers, sons of a Soviet major general, have been prominent public figures in Ukraine during its war with Russia.
In her memoir released earlier this year, Panettiere acknowledged being addicted to alcohol and having postpartum depression after her daughter's birth in 2014. Kaya went to live with Klitschko full-time when she was 2. Panettiere's father told investigators that when she died she had plans to visit her daughter in Ukraine days later.
