Not fully sure about dogs, but humans normally die of dehydration well before starvation, and I tend to think that would apply to dogs, too.
According to claims made by the guy who discovered them, he was worried about them long before the discovery, but an official welfare check would’ve required an authorization from a family member. But I find that claim little (?!) strange since according to https://thelawdictionary.org/article/what-is-a-police-welfare-check/ that is not needed.
In any case:
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Jesse Kesler, owner of MudCity Builders, revealed that he became worried weeks before Hackman’s death when he hadn’t heard from Arakawa, who he usually heard from about every three days.
“We were getting pretty worried,” Kesler told Fox News Digital. “We knew something was wrong.”
Kesler told the outlet that he even tried to start a wellness check on the couple, but he couldn’t get ahold of a family member to authorize it. When that process was taking “too long,” he decided to just go himself.
“We asked law enforcement for advice on how to do it. We started the process of a wellness check,” Kesler said. "We had to involve a family member to do a wellness check. They had to have an authorization from a family member.
“We couldn’t get hold of any family members. … We were in the process of getting hold of a family member, and it was taking too long. And finally, finally, I saw the security guard, and that’s when me and him went in.”
In a separate interview, Kesler admitted that he regrets not going up to the property sooner. Based on the timing of his suspicions, he believes a wellness check could have saved either Hackman – who died about a week after Arakawa – or their dog, which was found dead along with them.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gene-hackman-handyman-tried-save-152648030.html
As for their inheritance, that could be an interesting case.
The late Gene Hackman made no mention in his will of his three children, opting instead to leave his entire $80 million fortune to his wife, pianist Betsy Arakawa, who died days before her Oscar-winning husband.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, Hackman designated Arakawa his sole beneficiary back in 1995 and had not updated his will since. However, her recent death, which closely coincided with her husband’s, complicates the proceedings.
Arakawa also chose to leave most of her assets to Hackman, though her will included a stipulation that should they die within 90 days of each other, all of her assets would go to charity.