Hayden Panettiere's ex Wladimir Klitschko gets legal status to protect
their daughter's inheritance
[October 09, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Hayden Panettiere's ex-fiancé, 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.
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Wladimir Klitschko, former boxer and brother of Kyiv's mayor Vitali
Klitschko, attends an event in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026.
(AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
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 said 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.
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