Gina Rinehart wants to give up trustee role Gina Rinehart will give up trustee role Gina Rinehart has offered to relinquish control of the family trust after a two-year legal battle. Now two of her children are set to battle it out in mediation. PT2M17S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2uq5t 620 349 October 1, 2013 - 3:11PM Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart wants to relinquish control of a lucrative family trust in a stunning and unexpected capitulation. Her lawyers told the Supreme Court in Sydney on Tuesday that the bitter family dispute with two of her children was "effectively over," with Mrs Rinehart wishing to be discharged as trustee. She has proposed a mediation session to find a new trustee which, she said, should be a family member with "specific characteristics" - such as impartiality, sensibility and experience in the mining industry. Gina Rinehart: wants to give up trustee role. The announcement sets up a showdown for the position of trustee between her four children: Hope - who pulled out of litigation earlier this year due to financial troubles - Bianca, John Hancock and Ginia, the only child to side with her mother. Bruce McClintock, a lawyer for Mrs Rinehart, said the two-year legal battle between Mrs Rinehart and her children, John Hancock and Bianca Hope Rinehart, had placed huge pressure on his client and created "untenable risk" of damage to Hancock Prospecting Group, the mining company which Mrs Rinehart runs. "The increased demands on her time in dealing with the ... plaintiff's issues has taken valuable time away from her responsibilities," he said. If mediation fails to find a new trustee, Mr McClintock asked that a judge be appointed to do so. The court heard that Mr Hancock was the only lineal descendent with his "hat in the ring" and his lawyers would seek urgent instructions on Tuesday afternoon. The stunning announcement marks a major development in the high-profile dispute over the family trust, set up in 1988 by Mrs Rinehart's father, Lang Hancock, with her children as the beneficiaries. The Hope Margaret Hancock Trust contains almost 25 per cent of the flagship family company Hancock Prospecting, and was tipped to make each of the four children billionaires. Mrs Rinehart's children first filed a claim two years ago, alleging their mother acted "deceitfully" in her dealings with the family trust. They claim she made changes to the trust in 2006 that prevented the children from being able to take their shares until 2068. Mrs Rinehart and her youngest daughter, Ginia, denied the claims. Two weeks ago, a judge ruled that the parties should once again attempt a mediation before the matter went to much-awaited trial in the Supreme Court on October 8. That mediation failed. Lawyers for Mr Hancock told the court on Tuesday that they supported the proposal to appoint a new trustee through further mediation but it did not take away from the fact that Mrs Rinehart had "unclean hands" and had acted deceitfully in her running of the trust. He accused her lawyers of misleading the court by making the dramatic capitulation before Justice Paul Brereton on Tuesday, rather than in the mediation sessions last week. Mr McClintock said Mrs Rinehart had run the trust for more than 20 years without remuneration and had helped it grow "enormously through her responsible endeavours and very hard work." "It was at times a very difficult role," he said. The income had gone to the education and benefit of her children. "Mrs Rinehart has come to the view that irrespective of her obvious abilities and experience, there is no further pressing need for her to continue as trustee," he said. Too much of Mrs Rinehart's time to date has had to be diverted to this unnecessary litigation while she is in the process of building a major project for Australia and other demanding responsibilities. Justice Brereton formally noted Mrs Rinehart's desire to discharge herself as trustee and to have a say in the identity of the new trustee. The matter returns to court on Tuesday afternoon.