MLK children get more time to turn over mother’s papers

The legal divide between the feuding children of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. narrowed a little on Thursday.

A court-appointed lawyer gave the Rev. Bernice King and her brother, Martin Luther King III, more time to turn over some of their mother’s personal papers.

“The lawyers are making progress,” said William B. Hill Jr., the court-appointed lawyer charged with enforcing the presiding judge’s orders in the case.

Bernice and Martin Luther King III, were under a court order to turn over 80 boxes of Coretta Scott King’s personal papers to the court on Thursday. But Hill dropped that deadline because lawyers moved closer to agreeing which documents are relevant to the case.

The King children are fighting over who controls Coretta Scott King’s personal papers.

Dexter King wants to use their mother’s personal papers for a biography about her. Dexter King is chairman and chief executive officer of King Inc., which controls the intellectual property rights of their father.

But Bernice and Martin Luther King III, the only other board members of the family corporation, argue that some of these records are too personal to be made public. They also contend Dexter King has effectively shut them out of the company by refusing to call a family board meeting in over four years.

Hill said reaching an agreement on “an inventory” of letters and other personal records was in the best interests of all the King children.

“They [the lawyers] don’t need to waste their clients’ time and money poring over boxes of irrelevant documents,” Hill said.

Hill gave the attorneys until Monday to give him a list of the records both sides agree are relevant.

In July, Bernice and Martin Luther King III filed suit against their brother, whom they accused of misusing family company funds and hiding financial records.

Dexter King countersued in August. He accused his brother and sister of obstructing the goals of the King Center for Nonviolent Research and for misusing the institution’s name.

Since filing their lawsuits, the three King children have shown few signs of softening their positions.

On Thursday, Martin Luther King III acknowledged that his parents would be unhappy to see their children fighting each other in court.

“I think clearly if our parents were here, this issue wouldn’t have happened,” King said. “But at the end of the day our goal is for some level of reconciliation.

“That part they would want to see,” King said.

THE STORY SO FAR

• Previously: In July, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III sued brother Dexter King, accusing him of taking money from Coretta Scott King’s estate for his own benefit. Dexter King filed a counterclaim accusing his siblings of establishing foundations that compete with the King Center for Nonviolent Change and using the center for personal gain.

• The latest: The lawyer appointed to enforce the orders of the presiding judge dropped a Thursday deadline for Bernice and brother Martin III to turn over 80 boxes of Coretta Scott King’s personal papers.

• What’s next: Lawyers for the King heirs have until Monday to give Hill a list of Coretta Scott King’s personal papers that are arguably of historic value.