King children sue brother, father's estate

[emilyg]

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.


Dexter King, left, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III attend a 2006 tribute for their late mother.

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


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

[CTyankee]

1. I'm not surprised, because this is such a common thing!

Whenever money comes into the issue, it is a problem. I have seen this in family after family. It causes horrible rifts in families. They sue each other, deny access to grandchildren, etc. It is awful. Thank god I didn't have this with my mother's peaceful departure from this life. She was spared any unpleasant stuff because she had an airtight revocable trust and there were few if any claims on her estate.

My husband and I have given each other ownership of our bank accounts. We are in ourlate 60s and if anything happens to one of us, the other one can carry on.

I have had my eyes opened on this issue. It ain't pretty...

[emilyg]

2. So right. I have seen families

fighting over money at a gravesite.

[ikojo]

3. My mom has handled this by being

poor and living to the best of her ability on only her social security. She has no property and no money in the bank, so there is nothing to fight over when she leaves us.

[trashcanistanista]

4. This happened to me. When my mom went into a nursing home

he got power of attorney and drained her bank account, sold her house, divorced his wife and put all the money in his wife's account. My sister and I sued as beneficiaries and won, but there are no assets in his name, so we never could collect. My advice, if this happens to you, let it go. You will lose more than you would have gained by fighting it.