After settlement, King family turns eyes to healing

“Whenever any family has a conflict, it brings you closer together,” Dexter said outside of the courthouse. Added Martin: "We have always loved one another. After all, we are all we have."

Martin, 51, and Bernice, 46, lingered a while, and then 48-year-old Dexter left on his own, like they were strangers.

Part of the reason that Glanville wanted the siblings to install a custodian to deal with their business affairs was so they could work on rebuilding their relationship.

The main upshot of Monday’s settlement was that the children of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr., avoided a potentially long and embarrassing jury trial about control of King Inc., the corporation that controls the use of their father’s papers, intellectual property and materials.

Preliminary hearings had already been painful and at times blistering, as accusations flew on both sides. Dexter had stolen money. Bernice had hid evidence. Martin turned a blind eye to misdeeds.

Last Friday, Dexter King suggested the installation of a custodian.

"The rationale, from Dexter's opinion, was not because of mismanagement. He was always confident that the organization had been managed properly," said Lin Wood, the attorney hired by Dexter for the family corporation. "Dexter's thinking is that this will give the family an opportunity to step back. So that hopefully, they can come back together as a family."

In ordering the appointment of a custodian, Glanville said the siblings were "deadlocked" as shareholders, and needed a temporary custodian to add stability and credibility to the troubled estate. In his ruling, he added that the appointment would:

*Provide the siblings an opportunity to focus on their personal family relationships.

*Enable them to work with a third party professional to develop procedures for the ultimate management of King Inc.

*Manage any ongoing or new agreements that King Inc., has engaged in, like book and licensing deals and the forthcoming Martin Luther King Jr., biopic that is scheduled to be produced by Stephen Spielberg.

Dexter King remains the president of King Inc. and all of the siblings will remain the sole shareholders. Jock Smith, a lawyer for Bernice and Martin, said that the settlement in essence dethrones Dexter because while he remains president of King Inc., it is now a powerless position.

"No one is in power but the custodian," said Smith of Tuskegee, Ala. "What has really changed is that Dexter is out of operational power. He is no longer a CEO making unilateral decisions."

The custodian will remain in power until the King offspring can decide how to manage the corporation or until the judge decides otherwise. Smith said the judge could require the three to hold a board meeting in which bylaws could be rewritten -- the current ones allow one member to block the action of the majority by boycotting the meeting -- and a new executive chosen.

The family squabble happened because of suspicions by Bernice and Martin that Dexter was running the corporation in a way that unfairly benefited him and allowed them little control over their father's legacy, Smith said.

For instance, the $32 million payday for papers of Martin Luther King Jr. was a point of major contention because Dexter argued that his commission -- which Smith said was more than 30 percent -- should be calculated on the gross figure than the net figure, which subtracted fees to the auction house and to another company involved in the deal, Smith said. After all the payments including the one to Dexter were made, the three siblings divided the remainder of the bonanza, Smith said.

They also accused Dexter of taking money out of the estate of Coretta Scott King, but Glanville’s ruling vindicated him.

“Dexter was an authorized signatory on that account and the funds that he removed were immediately distributed in three equal shares to the three shareholders of the Corporation,” Glanville wrote. “There was no improper conduct with respect to the removal of funds... Dexter did not misappropriate, convert, or steal any monies from Mrs. King’s estate.”

Smith said he expected disputed deals, such as the proposed movie deal between King Inc. and Dreamworks for a big screen epic on MLK's life -- which had been opposed by Martin and Bernice -- should move along expeditiously because the custodian would be allowed to seal the deal during his or her stewardship.

The lawyer expected the proposed book on Coretta Scott King also to move forward because the custodian would make the decision about whether to allow it to use the love letters between MLK and his wife -- which Bernice had opposed.

"The custodian is the man now," Smith said. "I think he would take all their input very seriously and consider all that as well as what the industry requires."

After the settlement was read, each side was given 14 days to submit the names of three candidates for custodian. The court will interview at least one candidate from each side, who is "qualified to manage a business but must also be sensitive to the nature of the legacy to be managed." Once a custodian is named, the person would report regularly to the court on King Inc. progress.

The appointment of a custodian strikes at the heart of what the original lawsuit, filed in July of 2008 was all about – power.

It was Bernice and Martin who sued Dexter in July 2008 and accused him of acting improperly and mismanaging money as head of their father's estate.

Now that the legal battle is settled, the healing has a chance to begin.

For years, observers and people close to the King family have noted that feelings among the siblings had been strained. Dexter King, who has lived in California for years, rarely ventured back east and the only notable times he was seen in public in Atlanta was for the funerals of his mother and his sister, Yolanda King.

Christine King Farris, the matriarch of the King family, said she is confident that her niece and nephews can settle their personal differences. But Martin Luther King Jr.’s only living sibling said that while she talks to each of them regularly, she will not interfere with their personal discussions.

“I love them and I am here for them and they know that,” Farris said. “All of us go through rough times. I am proud of them, because I know they will get it together. They were taught that.”

In July, Dexter was in a serious automobile accident that shattered his right femur. He walks with crutches, but also gets around in a wheelchair. After Monday’s hearing, his fiancée Leah Weber -- who was reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals" during the negotiations -- wheeled him to the elevator while he chatted with his attorneys. When he got outside to talk to the media, he stood up on his crutches. Out of sight of the cameras, Bernice and Martin waited in the lobby for their turn.

As she waited for the media to set up, Bernice paused for a moment. Silently, she watched her brother, on his crutches, limp to his awaiting vehicle. She watched him until he got into the car and one of the lawyers shut the door.

"Love compels you to take a higher road," Bernice said. "We love our brother and the legacy of our parents. At the end of the day, we're still a family."