Gina Rinehart's children sued her for control of a $5 billion family trust, and her daughter replaced her as trustee

Lang Hancock set up the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust in 1988 for his four grandchildren, holding 23.4 percent of Hancock Prospecting. His daughter Gina Rinehart was trustee. In September 2011, as the trust was due to vest, three of her children, John Hancock, Bianca Rinehart and Hope Welker, sued in the New South Wales Supreme Court to remove her^†. Hope later took a $45 million settlement and left the case, citing money troubles. In October 2013 Rinehart gave up the trusteeship before the hearings. Justice Paul Brereton found Rinehart had repeatedly tried to deter her children from pursuing the case, and appointed Bianca as trustee, calling the choice "far less unsatisfactory than the alternatives." John and Bianca then claimed a share of the Hope Downs iron ore mines, alleging assets had been moved out of family reach. On April 15, 2026 Justice Jennifer Smith of the WA Supreme Court, in a 1,655-page judgment, rejected their claim, while ordering Hancock Prospecting to share Hope Downs royalties with Wright Prospecting.