King children sue brother, father's estate

[Dos Equis]

Terrible.  Sad.  Money really makes people do strange things. 

King children sue brother, father's estate
By Josh Levs
CNN
     
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Two of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s children are suing their brother, accusing him of wrongfully taking money from their parents' estates.

Bernice King and Martin Luther King III allege that Dexter King took "substantial funds" out of Coretta Scott King's estate and "wrongfully appropriated" money from their father's estate.

The suit, filed Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court, serves as a very public fissure in an iconic family that has always professed unity, particularly as questions have swirled around some of their financial dealings.

In a written statement Friday, Dexter King called the suit "inappropriate and false."

"I'm disappointed that our personal family disagreement, as it relates to the family business, has evolved into being handled in a public legal forum," he said.

"It is my hope that this inappropriate and false claim by my siblings will be swiftly resolved and we can go about the business of focusing on our parents' tremendous legacy."

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead garbage workers on a protest march.

King's wife, Coretta Scott King, also devoted her life to the civil rights movement, died in 2006.

Attorneys for Bernice King and Martin Luther King III would not say Friday how much money they are accusing Dexter King of taking from their mother's estate.

Bernice King is the administrator of that estate. Dexter King, the suit says, controls their father's estate, which is registered as a Georgia corporation.

All three children are shareholders in that corporation.

The lawsuit names Dexter King and the corporation as defendants. It alleges that last month, the defendants "converted substantial funds from the estate's financial account at Bank of America for their own use."

Harmon Caldwell, an Atlanta attorney representing the plaintiffs, said Dexter King is a signatory on the account, but "was not authorized to transfer the funds," and gave his sister "no notice that those funds were being transferred."

The suit says that as a result of the transfer, "plaintiffs have and will suffer financial loss."

The lawsuit lists Bernice King as a plaintiff both individually and as administrator of their mother's estate.

Separately, the suit says Dexter King "has wrongfully appropriated assets belonging to the [estate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.] or its shareholders for his own benefit."

Caldwell said Dexter King has refused to say what has happened with some of the corporation's money.

"I can't tell you that he's gone out and used corporate assets for his own living expenses," the attorney said. "What I can tell you for certainty is that by not providing Martin and Bernice with information about how the corporation is using its assets, he is essentially using those assets, appropriating those assets for his own benefit."

The plaintiffs' attorneys would not estimate the size of either estate. But one, Jock Smith, noted that a collection of King's manuscripts and other items was sold in 2006 for a reported $32 million.

"I don't think it was a substantial corporation of any sort before that," Smith said.

Over the years, the family of the civil rights leader has zealously protected its financial interests, at times taking legal steps even against news media for showing some of King's most famous speeches.

In 2005, some news agencies reported on the King Center, a nonprofit, having put millions of dollars into a for-profit business run by Dexter King. The family rejected allegations of wrongdoing, and has generally pushed to keep financial matters private.

Smith said his clients made repeated efforts to reach out to their brother in recent weeks before deciding to take legal action.

Smith agreed with the suggestion that it was emotionally tough for the King children to file the suit.

"That would be the understatement of the year, Smith said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/11/mlk.suit/index.html

[240 is Back]

sounds like he'll cut his nuts off in court.

[24KT]

Legal suits filed by one family member against another is nothing new.

When the parties involved aren't able to amicably settle their dispute between themselves, that's where the dispute goes. It's simply another step in the process along the road to a mutually satisfactory outcome by having it settled by a higher authority. no biggie.

[Dos Equis]

No biggie??     Uh . . . no.  A lawsuit between family members is never pretty.  The relationships are over at that point.  Regardless of what they say in public, whatever relationship these kids had is over.   

[Dos Equis]

Jul 19, 6:58 PM EDT

Lawsuit exposes growing rift among King children

By ERRIN HAINES
Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) -- For years, they were the picture of solidarity: the four children of Martin Luther King Jr. carrying on the legacy of the civil rights icon.

But a lawsuit over how their father's estate is being run has left a rift in one of the world's most famous families. And it may now be up to a judge to get the King children in the same room.

"Strong parents have strong children, and strong children have strong opinions, and that usually leads to conflicts that they have difficulty reconciling," said Andrew Young, the former Congressman and Atlanta mayor who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement and remains close to the family.

The lawsuit filed July 10 claims that Dexter King, administrator of his father's estate, has failed to provide his surviving siblings with essential documents, including financial records and contracts.

It claims that he and the estate "converted substantial funds from the estate's financial account ... for their own use" on June 20 without notifying his sister and brother. It is not about money, but instead is a last-resort effort to talk to Dexter King about the family's affairs, even if it's through a judge, Young said.

"It's simply a matter of asking for help," he said. "That's consistent with the civil rights movement. Everything we did, we went to judges to reconcile the differences. I don't think there's any animosity or hostility involved in it."

Bernice and Martin Luther King III both declined to be interviewed for this story, but issued a statement Saturday through attorney Jock Smith.

"We love our brother, yet we cannot ignore our responsibility to ensure that the corporation we are all shareholders and directors of, is properly managed," the statement said.

"Our right to obtain corporate documents that we have personally requested in the past few years, and more recently in the lawsuit that we have filed, have been continuously ignored," it added. "Duty obligates us to preserve and protect the corporation and the legacy from arbitrary, singular, and seemingly self-serving decision-making."

Dexter King did not respond to an interview request placed through The King Center.

In their joint statement, his siblings also expressed their disapproval of Dexter King's public comments regarding the case.

"We invite our brother to refrain from using the media to air his grievances with the lawsuit," the statement added. "Instead of avoiding being served, we hope that he will respond to the lawsuit, to the court, and to us with answers."

A dispute involving that center in 2005 showed some chinks in the King children's armor. Bernice and Martin Luther King III took sides against the others when they opposed the sale of the center.

They argued the deal would compromise the center's independent voice. Their mother, Coretta Scott King, founded the center shortly after her husband's death in 1968, and it needed more than $11 million in repairs.

Before the issue could be resolved, Coretta Scott King died in January 2006 of complications from a stroke and ovarian cancer at age 78. As her children worked to get her affairs in order, Martin Luther King III said the siblings were forced to talk more.

"In the past, there could be times when we didn't talk, but now, that can't be the case," he said in a December 2006 interview with The Associated Press. "We have never been at odds, per se. We have disagreed on issues."

In the year after their mother's death, the eldest, Yolanda, held the family together. Then she died in May 2007 from a heart attack at age 52 in Malibu, Calif., where she and Dexter lived and were pursuing entertainment careers.

Dexter has since drifted further from his older siblings. He was conspicuously absent from the King holiday celebration in January and the 40th anniversary of his father's assassination in April.

The split is difficult for all three grieving siblings, said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, another King lieutenant and family friend. He said they had their differences even when their mother was alive.

"They talk; they just don't communicate," Lowery said. Yolanda King often served as a bridge between the other three, he said. "That bridge is no longer there."
 
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