New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson and his daughter Renee together with his grandchildren settled an ongoing lawsuit. The lawsuit is about his late wife's estate amounting to almost $1B.
Terms relating to the lawsuit were confidential and were not made public. USA Today reported that the two sides reached settlement last Friday. The supposedly legal battle was going to happen on the first day of February over the will of his first wife. A jury trial was supposed to happen on San Antonio court if there was not settlement.
Legal fights occurred because Benson removed her daughter and her children from his trust. Nola said that his daughter, Renee Benson, wanted to remove her father from the trust fund that has all of their fortunes. She also filed a lawsuit after her father announced his intent to replace her with his current wife as the successor of his wealth. According to Renee, her father is being pushed by his wife, Gayle Benson, to do all those things.
After Renee's mother, Shirley Benson, died in 1980, a testamentary trust was created. It has almost $1B comprising of all of Lone Star Capital Bank, half of five auto dealerships in San Antonio and New Orleans, half of a large ranch near Johnson City, cash, real estate and an aircraft.
According to Express News, February last year, Tom Benson was removed from the Shirley Benson Testamentary Fund because he moved the assets and accounts to a different bank. Tom is fine with not being the trustee as long as it is also not his daughter and her children.
There are still two lawsuits regarding other money and estate matters to be settled by his family. Tom wanted to remove his daughter and her children, Rita and Ryan LeBlanc from the trust ownership of his teams. It composes of 60% non-voting shares for his NFL team and 95% for the Pelicans' team. He is suing San Antonio trustee in the federal courts.
