Australia’s most famous legal stoushes between members of powerful families

From Gina Rinehart to James Packer, here are the most famous family legal stoushes in the nation. See the list.

Australia's wealthy magnates and their legal wars. Picture: Supplied.

These are some of Australia’s biggest family legal stoushes involving the nation’s most powerful, wealthy and influential business magnates and what happened in court.

See the list below:

Gina Rinehart was embroiled in a feud with her two children. Picture: Supplied by Hancock Prospecting.

THE RINEHARTS

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart battled her children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, over control of a $5bn family trust in a legal battle that raged for four years. Mrs Rinehart stepped down as trustee of the trust in 2015.

Bianca Rinehart leaves court after day two of the case at the Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: Supplied.

John Hancock battled his mother for the family fortune. Picture: Perini Michael.

THE PACKERS

Gambling heir James Packer and his sister, Gretel Packer, agreed to a $1.25bn settlement in 2015 to end a long-running stoush over a family fortune built from casino operations and the sale of father Kerry Packer’s media business.

James Packer agreed to a settlement. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images.

THE TALBOTS

The family of Queensland miner Ken Talbot spent a more than a decade fighting over his $1.1bn estate after he died in a plane crash in 2010. Cases connected to the saga were still before the courts as recently as February this year.

Macarthur Coal chief executive Ken Talbot died in a plane crash in 2010. Picture: Supplied.

THE LEWS

An ugly battle between the children of billionaire rag trader Solomon Lew and their estranged partners spilled over into the courts in 2012, with a $600m family trust at the centre of the stoush.

Solomon Lew and his children were involved in a dispute. Picture: David Caird.

THE JANES

Tyre king Bob Jane sued his son, Rodney Jane, in 2013, claiming to be owed $2.9m. It was part of a bigger stoush between the two during which Bob Jane claimed his son took advantage of him and wiped out his $100m fortune.

Car racing legend Bob Jane leaves the Supreme Court of Appeal in Melbourne in 2013. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

Rodney Jane speaks to the media as he leaves the Supreme Court of Appeal in Melbourne in 2013. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith.

Rodney Jane denied this and said the business would have gone under without him. The pair never reconciled before Bob Jane died in 2018.

Originally published as Australia’s most famous legal stoushes between members of powerful families