Gina Rinehart Sued By Her Children Over $2.4 Billion Inheritance

Gina Rinehart is Australian’s richest woman with an estimated worth of $18 billion. Her vast fortune was inherited from her father’s iron ore business, Hancock Prospecting. The Australian billionaire is currently engaged in a bitter feud with her eldest three children. The feud, which has resulted in the children suing their mother in Australian court, alleges that the children were mislead by their mother whose intent was to lock them out of their inheritance.

Gina’s father, Lang Hancock, created a trust for his four grandchildren prior to his departure from this world in 1992 and left the trust in the children’s names.

This breaking news story has come to light after an Australian court lifted the gag order which resulted in the release of court documents pertaining to the family’s financial feud. This comes after Rinehart’s attempts to suppress the story were rejected.

The suit filed by the children alleges that Gina Rinehart warned her children that they would be liable to pay $142 million in capital gains tax, which would bankrupt them, unless they appointed her trustee. She then allocated less than one business day for the children to make their final decision regarding the matter. After which point Rinehart threatened “not to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries unless the beneficiaries signed a deed that contained such terms.”

Eventually, the children signed an agreement which extended their mother’s control of the trust until the year 2068. At which point, Gina Rinehart would be 114 years old and the youngest of the three children involved in the lawsuit would be 83.

Bianca Rinehart, John Hancock, and Hope Rinehart-Welker are the three children whom the Hope Margaret Hancock trust was setup for and the trust is in their name.

Due to what appears to be a combination of a lack of confidence in her children’s business savvy and an intolerance for their “holidaying lifestyles and attitudes,” Rinehart has effectively taken control of the trust setup by their grandfather which represents roughly 23% of the family company.

While it might seem a bit unusual to find the Australian equivalent of Donald Trump engaged in a bitter legal dispute with her own children, the $2.4 billion fortune at stake offers a lot of incentive for all parties involved to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the allocation of the fortune coincides with their own interests.

What do you think about #29 on Forbes’ Billionaire List, Gina Rinehart, being sued by her own children?

Source: Yahoo! News