Chadwick Boseman’s family questioned the level of opioid medication in his system after his death and sought access to his medical records, electronic devices and financial information, according to letters exchanged by lawyers.
The correspondence, sent in the months after the actor’s death, involved his parents, Leroy and Carolyn Boseman, and his brothers, Derrick and Kevin, and his widow, Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman.
In a letter dated 16 November 2020, lawyers for the Boseman family asked Ledward Boseman’s legal team to agree to the release of his medical records. They also requested digital copies of information held on his mobile phones, computers, iPads and other electronic devices.
The family’s lawyers sought accounting records for Boseman’s bank accounts, saying their “only hope is this case is to fulfil Chad’s actual intent and ensure that the distribution of assets aligns with the free will that God gave him”.
Ledward Boseman’s lawyer responded on 1 December, describing the earlier letter as “sudden”, “misguided” and “aggressive”. The lawyer said she had attempted to work with the brothers and include them “gratuitously in Ms. Boseman’s projects to honour her late husband’s legacy”.
The response warned that the dispute would have to proceed formally and said: “I intend to protect my client from the bogus and avaricious claims insinuated by your correspondence.”
Further correspondence dated 23 August 2021 alleged that the family had sought medical records because of questions about why Boseman had been found on the floor of his bedroom on the day he died. The family also claimed it had wanted an autopsy, while Ledward Boseman had initially opposed one because his body had already been through enough.
The family’s lawyers said an autopsy was completed on 1 September 2020 and had produced what they described as “startling results” concerning the medical advice or therapy Boseman had received.
They alleged that toxicology testing showed 0.12mg/l of hydromorphone in his system at the time of death. The letter described the figure as “extremely troubling”, claiming it was four times the highest therapeutic concentration and “well into the toxic range”.
The brothers also sought recordings Boseman may have made about the distribution of his fortune. Their lawyers claimed they believed he had recorded instructions that 90 per cent of his film residuals should be divided equally between his parents and his two brothers.
Ledward Boseman’s lawyer rejected the tone and timing of the allegations in a letter dated 2 September 2021, saying the family had been silent for nine months before writing shortly before the first anniversary of Boseman’s death. The lawyer accused them of sullying the image of “a magnificent role model” and said the claims would be met “with all means at our disposal”.
Kevin and Derrick Boseman have since filed documents seeking to remove Ledward Boseman as administrator of the actor’s estate. She is opposing the application.
