Ted Turner’s final estate plans are drawing attention because one very famous name is missing. New probate documents reportedly show that Jane Fonda is not listed as a beneficiary in the late media mogul’s will, despite the former couple maintaining a warm relationship long after their divorce.
The filing, obtained by TMZ, names Turner’s five children as heirs and comes after years of changes to his estate planning. Jane Fonda’s name being missing from Ted Turner’s will is notable not because Fonda was expected to inherit, but because she remained closely associated with Turner even decades after their marriage ended.
Jane Fonda Is Not Listed As A Beneficiary
According to TMZ, Turner’s five children, Laura, Robert, Rhett, Reed and Sara, are listed as the only heirs to his estate. The filing reportedly asks for all five children to serve as executors.
However, Fonda is not named among the beneficiaries. That omission may sound surprising because of how publicly affectionate the former spouses remained, but the two had been divorced since 2001.
There is no indication in the filing that Fonda expected to inherit from Turner or that her absence reflects any conflict between them. The probate documents instead show that Turner’s estate was structured around his children.
Turner Changed His Estate Plans More Than Once
TMZ reports that Turner’s trust was first drafted in 2003 and amended repeatedly over the following two decades. The changes reportedly came in 2005, 2006, 2007 and numerous subsequent years, with the final amendment made in 2025.
That history adds context to the filing because Turner repeatedly revisited his estate plans before his death. Even after those amendments, his five children remained the only listed heirs in the documents obtained by the outlet.
The filing also reportedly directs his heirs to pay his debts and handle his business affairs while giving them authority to sell assets if necessary. The exact value of Turner’s estate and the full breakdown of any individual inheritances were not disclosed in the initial report.
Turner, who founded CNN and built a media empire that also included major sports and entertainment holdings, died on May 6, 2026, at age 87.
Jane Fonda And Ted Turner Stayed Close After Divorce
Fonda and Turner married in 1991 and divorced in 2001. Their marriage was highly publicized, but the two remained close after their split. Fonda repeatedly described Turner as an important person in her life and even referred to him as her “favorite ex-husband.”
In 2025, she became emotional while crediting him with helping support the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential, the organization they helped establish during their marriage. That history is what makes her absence from the estate documents interesting.
The former spouses did not publicly behave like bitter exes, and Fonda’s later comments about Turner were consistently affectionate. Still, emotional closeness after divorce does not automatically mean a former spouse will be included in an estate plan.
Fonda Paid Tribute To Turner After His Death
Fonda also publicly honored Turner after his death, reflecting on the significant impact he had on her life. “I loved Ted with all my heart,” she wrote in her tribute, while also crediting him with giving her confidence and teaching her about business, strategy, nature and wildlife.
Fonda also acknowledged Turner’s five children, saying she had the “privilege of becoming stepmother” to them during their marriage. That makes the new estate filing more likely to attract attention because it arrives after years of evidence that the former spouses remained on good terms. But the documents do not appear to contradict that relationship.
They simply show that Turner’s final estate planning prioritized his children rather than his former wife. The absence of her name from the beneficiary list does not, by itself, point to tension or estrangement. Instead, it reflects how Turner chose to structure his estate at the end of his life.
Ted Turner’s Final Will Reveals Surprising Jane Fonda Detail