King heirs hold first business meeting since 2004
ATLANTA — The surviving children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. met in a courtroom Monday to formally discuss estate business for the first time in five years.
Martin Luther King III, the Rev. Bernice King and Dexter King are the remaining heirs of their father’s estate, which is a privately held corporation. The siblings are in the midst of a legal feud over the estate, with Martin King and Bernice King claiming Dexter King has acted improperly as head of the estate.
Fulton County Superior Court spokesman Don Plummer said all three appeared in a courtroom for a closed-door shareholder meeting that had been ordered by a judge. Repeated calls to the Kings’ lawyers seeking details of the meeting were not immediately returned.
The Kings last held an annual meeting to discuss the estate in 2004 — before the deaths of their sister, Yolanda, in 2007, and their mother, Coretta Scott King, in 2006.
Dexter King has also sued his sister over her handling of their mother’s estate, which Bernice King administers.
Bernice King and Martin Luther King III sued their brother last year to force him to open the books of their father’s estate. The lawsuit claims Dexter King, the estate’s administrator, has refused to provide documents concerning the estate’s operations.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural D. Glanville has said he is “extremely troubled” by how the estate is being run. Dexter King is the president, chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the estate. Beginning Oct.12, a jury is scheduled to decide whether he acted inappropriately in his role as head of King, Inc.
Attorneys for Bernice King and Martin Luther King III have asserted that Dexter King has been stonewalling his siblings for years in an effort to maintain control of the estate. Attorneys for Dexter King have said his siblings only want to meet to wrest power from their brother.
According to King Inc.’s bylaws, 80 percent of the shareholders must be present to transact estate business — meaning that without Dexter King, there is no quorum, although his siblings technically constitute a majority on the board of directors.
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