King siblings ordered to pay some of brother’s legal costs

A Fulton County judge has ordered two children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to pay some of the legal costs of the brother they’re fighting in court.

Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville also faulted Martin Luther King III and his sister, the Rev. Bernice King, for needlessly delaying the resolution of their legal squabble with brother Dexter King.

Granville wrote that Bernice King and Martin Luther King III “have unnecessarily expanded and protracted the proceedings.”

Attorneys for the King siblings could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

Glanville’s ruling last week is the latest episode in a long-running family drama that turned into a court battle this year over the late civil rights leader’s estate.

In July, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III filed suit against their brother, whom they accused of mishandling funds and hiding documents from them.

Dexter King, chairman and chief executive officer of the King Center for Nonviolent Change, filed a countersuit a month later. In it, he accused Bernice King and Martin Luther King III of misusing the center’s names and facilities.

In November, Glanville ordered Bernice King and Martin Luther King III to provide the court with personal papers belonging to their late mother, Coretta Scott King. Dexter King wants the papers to write an biography of their mother.

Glanville ruled the two would have to pay any costs incurred by Dexter to respond to their challenge of the release of the records.

Glanville also gave the two King children until Jan. 8 to hand over 80 boxes of their mother’s documents.