Judge orders King children to meet Sept. 28

By Associated Press

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A judge has set a date later this month for two of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s children to discuss how their father's estate is run with the brother who manages it.

As his heirs, Bernice King, Martin Luther King III and Dexter King are shareholders in King, Inc., but have not held an annual meeting to discuss estate business since 2004. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural D. Glanville ordered the three surviving children to meet in his courtroom on Sept. 28.

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.

In his order issued Friday, Glanville 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. Next month, a jury is scheduled to decide whether he acted financially inappropriately in his role as head of King, Inc.

Dexter King was not present at a hearing earlier this week in the case because he broke his leg badly in a July car accident and is unable to travel from California, where he lives.

Their mother, Coretta Scott King, died in 2006 and their sister, Yolanda King, died in 2007 — leaving the three remaining siblings as the sole shareholders and director's of their father's estate, which is set up as a corporation.

The judge also wrote that Dexter King has said he is unwilling to attend the court-ordered meeting, but warned that King Inc. could be disbanded if it doesn't follow state laws requiring corporations to have annual meetings.

Attorneys for Bernice King and Martin Luther King III have asserted that Dexter King has for years been stonewalling his siblings 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.

A message was left seeking comment from Dexter King on Friday.

Dexter King has also sued Bernice King, who administers their mother's estate. He has asked a judge to force his sister to turn over Coretta Scott King's personal papers, including love letters central to a now-defunct $1.4 million book deal.

During a court hearing Monday that lasted more than six hours and ended at nearly midnight, Bernice King disclosed the letters were in a safe deposit box and not among the more than 900 boxes catalogued in the past year by a court-appointed liaison in the case.