Sydney: Australian iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart`s eldest daughter has been granted control of the $3 billion dollar family trust following the family`s long-running legal battle.
The order in the New South Wales state Supreme Court said Bianca Rinehart had demonstrated the ability to robustly assert the rights of the trust against her mother and her company Hancock Prospecting.
Bianca and her brother John Hancock launched legal action against their mother in 2011, alleging she acted "deceitfully" and with "gross dishonesty" in her dealings with the trust, set up in 1988 by her father, Lang Hancock, with her children as the beneficiaries.
The youngest daughter, Ginia, has sided with her mother. Another daughter, Hope Welker, pulled out of the dispute.
Rinehart pulled out of her role as trustee in late 2013, leaving open the question of who should be put in control of the trust after the family could not agree on a successor.
The feud started after Rinehart changed the date of entitlement to the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust from 2011 to 2068. The trust contains almost 25 percent of Hancock Prospecting and promised to make each child a billionaire.
Forbes estimates Rinehart`s fortune has fallen to $12.2 billion from $17.4 billion in 2014 due to declining iron ore prices.
