King children return to court

When a parent dies, a house full of keepsakes and memories remains.

When that parent is Coretta Scott King, the memories and belongings are historic and valuable.

After Coretta King’s death in 2006, possessions at her condominium and house were inventoried, a process that required hundreds of hours of labor, at a cost of more than $350,000, according to affidavits filed in Fulton County Superior Court.

Today, the three surviving children of Coretta and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will return to court. At issue will be the disposition of personal papers of their mother and other items from her residences.

The ongoing court battle has pitted younger son Dexter King against his siblings, Martin L. King III and the Rev. Bernice King. Dexter King seeks Coretta King’s papers on behalf of King Inc., the family corporation that controls the slain civil rights leader’s intellectual property, but his brother and sister have resisted.

Details emerged in court this week about the careful cataloging of the King estate.

Teams of organizers worked for more than a year packing books, clothing, jewelry and photographs at the King family house on Sunset Avenue in the Atlanta University area, and at Coretta King’s Buckhead condo.

Up to nine employees worked at the condominium, labeling, wrapping and packing 254 boxes as a supervisor photographed, filmed and entered each item in a detailed Excel spreadsheet running on up to three computers at a time.

At least nine people worked at the Sunset house, packing between 750 and 1,000 boxes, according to those affidavits.

As president and chief executive officer of King Inc., Dexter King sought access to personal letters between his parents for a planned biography of his mother. That search has since widened, according to Nicole Wade, an attorney with Powell Goldstein, which is representing King Inc. in the litigation.

The corporation now seeks other items that were in the residences, including King Jr.’s Nobel Peace Prize medallion, which is composed of 18-carat gold coated in 23-carat gold and weighs about half a pound.

Bernice King, the administrator of her mother’s estate, has said in interviews that King Inc. doesn’t necessarily control her mother’s belongings. She also has said that her parents’ letters haven’t been inventoried and shouldn’t be turned over to the court until she and her brother Martin have had a chance to examine them.

Wade acknowledged that the letters and other personal belongings in the residences were among the few items that were not inventoried. She said the letters apparently have been set apart.

Coretta King’s personal assistant, Lynn Cothren, has described a blue suitcase that Coretta King kept in her bedroom full of letters from her husband. But this week, Bernice and Martin King said they were not familiar with the suitcase or any cache of personal letters, and that they could be spread through hundreds of boxes.

“Nobody has been through all Mrs. King’s papers,” said Martin King.

While most of the boxes are in storage units, the affidavits assert that 41 boxes of personal items went to Martin King, Bernice King and the late Yolanda King.