Bitterness in the heir as sibling rivalry surfaces

Samsung: In February 2012, the elder brother and sister of Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee filed separate law suits seeking a slice of the South Korean family’s vast fortune. They demanded the return of assets worth about $790m, accusing Mr Lee of taking over shares in Samsung businesses that their late father had held under the names of other people. Mr Lee vowed he would not give “a single dime” to his brother and sister. In February 2013, after lengthy legal proceedings, a court rejected the relatives’ claims together with those filed by three other family members.

Stanley Ho: A bitter fight over control of Stanley Ho’s fortune appeared to end in early 2011 when the office of the Macau casino billionaire said members of his family had reached “a full and final agreement”. Mr Ho had accused family members of fraudulently trying to seize control of Lanceford, a holding company that controlled his Hong Kong-listed company, SJM Holdings .

Ambani brothers: India’s Mukesh and Anil Ambani worked under their father Dhirubhai until his death in 2002. Two years later Mukesh admitted to “ownership issues” with Anil, and their mother was called in to broker a deal. Under a settlement in 2005, Mukesh kept Reliance Industries and its huge oil and gas operations. However, it was not long before a dispute arose over the price of gas that Reliance would provide to power plants planned by Anil. India’s oil ministry moved to settle the dispute by setting the gas price. The brothers’ dispute ended in the Supreme Court, which ruled that the gas produced by Reliance should be sold to Anil’s companies at a higher price than he had hoped. In spite of this, the brothers have managed to broker a peace deal.