Hayden Panettiere's ex Wladimir Klitschko petitions to protect their
daughter's inheritance
[September 29, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Hayden Panettiere's ex-fiancé Wladimir
Klitschko has filed an urgent petition asking that he be allowed to act
as their 11-year-old daughter's temporary representative in California
court to protect her inheritance after the death of her mother.
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. Kaya is Panettiere's sole heir. The filing in a Los Angeles
County court cites items seized in a federal investigation of the
actor’s death, unnamed and unauthorized people accessing her residence
in Los Angeles, and valuables that are missing.
The petition says it is “urgent and essential” that Klitschko be granted
the legal status of temporary guardian of his daughter's estate.
“Without an immediate appointment for these purposes, there is a high
probability that property belonging to Hayden’s Estate may be lost,
damaged or dissipated before a duly appointed personal representative
can be in place to protect it,” the filing says.
Klitschko's lawyers filed the petition on Thursday, but it did not
become publicly known until Monday, when it was reported by TMZ. The
filing emphasizes that his intention is solely to protect his daughter's
future assets until a permanent administrator can be put in place.
Panettiere, the former star of the TV series “Heroes” and “Nashville,”
died Aug. 16 at age 36. A coroner's report obtained by The Associated
Press said her death was from an accidental overdose of several drugs,
including fentanyl, and she had been in rehab just weeks before. She was
found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina.
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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)
 The petition says that federal
agents have taken Panettiere’s property in an investigation, and
there is no authorized person to deal with them and assure it is
returned.
The filing says that before her death, Panettiere and Klitschko
hired security to protect her home because an unnamed person had
gained unauthorized access. The petition says it's expected the same
person will continue to try to “misappropriate” property belonging
to her estate.
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for Oct. 8.
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.
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 worked to protect their country during its war
with Russia.
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