High Profile San Antonio Trust Dispute Sent to Mediation

A Bexar County Probate Court Judge has reportedly asked the parties engaged in a high profile battle over a trust valued at nearly $1 billion to engage in mediation.  In the case, the 88-year-old owner of the National Football League’s New Orleans Saints and the National Basketball Association’s New Orleans Pelicans, Tom Benson, and his only daughter are apparently at odds over control of the assets that were placed in trust by Benson’s late wife who sadly passed away in 1980.

Benson was named trustee of the Shirley Benson Testamentary Trust which owns 97 percent of San Antonio’s Lone Star Capital Bank, a portion of five car dealerships located in San Antonio and New Orleans, part of a ranch near Johnson City, numerous historic buildings in Blanco, estates in New Orleans and Lake Tahoe, millions of dollars in cash reserves, and a percentage of an airplane that was built in 2013 and is valued at about $6 million.

Earlier this year, Benson moved the funds placed in the testamentary trust from Lone Star Capital to Frost Bank and expressed his wish that his third wife would control his sports empire and business assets following his death.  He also allegedly cut off all contact with, and trust payments to, his daughter and two grandchildren in December.

After Benson cut all ties with his daughter, she filed a lawsuit seeking control of her mother’s testamentary trust.  According to Renee Benson, her father breached his fiduciary duty and lacked competency in administering her mother’s trust.  The probate judge assigned to the case subsequently appointed former San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and a local estate lawyer as temporary receivers.

Pursuant to the terms of the parties’ recent agreement, attorneys for Benson and his daughter will jointly select a mediator.  If a mediated agreement is reached, the parties will avoid a trial that is currently scheduled for February 2016.  According to the probate judge:

I can see a possible solution. … He (Tom Benson) built these businesses. We should recognize that he did nothing to damage the trust until this very last moment,” Rickhoff said. “If he would just step back from hiding money and not talking to his heirs, if he could walk back from that, we could take our hands off this case.

Despite contention between the parties over Benson’s actions regarding the trust assets, the receivers stated the trust earns stable income each month and is operating safely.  Still, the airplane that is owned in part by the trust has not been operated in almost one year.  Additionally, a New Orleans court recently found Benson mentally competent after his daughter sought control of the man’s Louisiana assets, including his sports teams.  That case is currently on appeal.

It will be interesting to see if the parties are able to resolve their dispute through mediation.

Photo credit: David Reber’s Hammer Photography / Foter / CC BY-SA