The billion-dollar family feud over two trust funds established by legendary Dallas oil tycoon H.L. Hunt is getting very personal.
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Albert G. Hill III, the first great-grandchild of H.L., accused his family of being “dysfunctional” in a long story about the dispute published Sunday in The Dallas Morning News.
Hill’s father, Albert Jr., meanwhile, was critical of his son’s lavish lifestyle. Albert Jr. says he paid nearly $500,000 last summer to send Albert III, his wife, his mother-in-law, three kids and two nannies abroad for several weeks.
“There’s no money in the world worth this,” one friend of the Hunt family told Morning News’ reporters Diane Jennings and Michael Grabell about the feud.
In November, Albert III sued his father and other family members for alleged mismanagement of two trust funds with up to $4 billion in assets. The trusts were established for H.L.’s first two children, Margaret and Hassie, also named Haroldson Lafayette, like his father.
Hassie died in 2005; Margaret last year. H.L., who amassed one of the largest fortunes in history, died in 1974.
To support his dysfunction claim, Albert III told the newspaper that his father had an advisor take notes at official family meetings that discussed such everyday topics as getting together at holidays. Birthday celebrations were held twice a year. A spreadsheet tracked gifts.
Albert Jr., Margaret’s son, told the newspaper that his methods were efficient.
Separately, the Morning News cited email and other communication between the estranged father and son. In one instance, Albert III declined a request through his father’s secretary for his children to pose for a family Christmas card. A few days later, Albert III filed his lawsuit.
Albert III is represented by Bill Brewer, a high-profile Dallas attorney who has also represented T. Boone Pickens, Sam and Charles Wyly, and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach.
This won’t be the last very public rendering of the Hunt/Hill family’s very private details. Tim Rogers, editor of the Dallas city magazine, D, wrote in a blog item last week that his publication will run a story on the lawsuit in its March issue. Rogers indicated that Vanity Fair also plans a story.
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