didn’t his first wife get half of his wealth decades ago when they divorced? I assume they were living in California way back then.
Divorcing after 30 years of marriage, I’m sure she got a considerable payout.
The alleged information in the media about wealthy celebrities is always suspect. Journalists do not have access to non-public information. New Mexico may or may not publish the will as an open document in the probate case.
The main point is that probate, via a will, is not the only way for a person to pass property at death. Hackman may have placed assets in a trust, and that trust would contain language about the disposition of assets at death. A trust is not a public document and does not have a (semi) public process like a court procedure of probate for a will.
The will operates only on probate assets - property owned by the decedent at the time of death. If he or she transferred ownership of assets to a trust, those assets would not appear in the probate process. It is precisely for this reason that wealthy people use trusts, to pass property at time of death without publicity.
The 90 day rule is probably NM statutes, under their simultaneous death provision. It is mainly intended to define what happens when people die together in a situation (e.g., plane crash) where it is impossible to determine who died first. But it can also define a period of time (proximity) which is deemed to be simultaneous. There are some jurisdictions with 100 hour rules, perhaps NM sets it at 90 days. The testamentary instrument can supersede that by specifying its own simultaneous death provision.