Rebecca Gray,

Editor (Oceania)

 

NEW SOUTH WALES - Australia’s wealthiest woman, Gina Rinehart has lost the case to dismiss attempts by her children to remove her as trustee of their inheritance.

The Hope Margaret Hancock trust was set up by Gina’s father Lang Hancock before his death, nominating Rinehart as trustee and his four grandchildren as beneficiaries. The trust would allow the children to 17.5 per cent of shares in Gina Rinehart’s mineral exploration and extraction company Hancock Prospecting.

Mrs Rinehart’s youngest child Ginia, supports her mother’s actions.

The lawsuit, which began in September 2011 was carried out by three of Rinehart’s children – John Hancock, Bianca Rinehart and Hope Rinehart Welker in an attempt to remove their mother as sole trustee.

They claim that Mrs Rinehart is unfit to be trustee after she extended the vesting date to 2068

Rinehart claimed that the NSW Supreme Court should dismiss the case as the trust has since vested and the children can redeem their share at any time. She argued that the case was frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of process.

However, Justice Paul Brereton of the New South Wales Supreme Court said that she could “Seek to extract some concession or benefit” if the children did so. The children do not wish to receive their share; they just want Mrs Rinehart removed as trustee.

The NSW Supreme Court ruled that if Gina were to dismiss the case against her, she would need to prove that it was “hopeless, without prospects of success or doomed to failure”.

The outcome of the case dismissed Gina’s claims, which will allow the children to uptake another attempt to overthrow their mother’s role as trustee.

The family will return to court next Wednesday (7th of November) to hear arguments on costs. They are likely to face court next year, although no date was set for the full trial.