Richest Australian 'warned children of ruin' in feud

Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart warned her children they could face financial ruin unless they extended her control of a family trust, three of them claim in court papers released on Monday.

Iron ore billionaire Rinehart has battled for months to keep the case out of the media, but the Supreme Court of New South Wales has now released the documents which outline the details of the family feud.

The row stems from a family trust set up by Gina Rinehart's father, the late Lang Hancock, in 1988 with his four grandchildren as the beneficiaries.

Rinehart wanted the children to give her long-term control of the trust, but three -- John Hancock and sisters Bianca Hope Rinehart and Hope Rinehart Welker -- have refused and instead want their mother removed as trustee.

The court documents show Rinehart, ranked by Forbes as the world's 29th richest person, emailed her four children in September, just days before they were due to take control of their share of the multi-billion dollar trust.

In her email, she said they faced financial ruin -- due to the huge capital gains tax bill they faced -- unless they let her extend the vesting date of the trust, they claim.

In a summons lodged in October, they accuse her of "unconscionably and deliberately" providing them with a single business day in which to make a decision or "be faced with a potentially massive capital gains tax liability and potential bankruptcy".

They also say she changed the vesting date of the trust to 2068 without their knowledge.

Gina Rinehart contests the allegations brought by her children.

Rinehart's youngest daughter, Ginia Rinehart, has sided with her mother and on Monday described the case as "nothing but a destructive display of greed, jealousy and a selfish sense of entitlement on behalf of my siblings".

This prompted her sister Hope Welker to issue her own statement in which she said she was deeply saddened by her sister's remarks.

"We did not want to go to court but were given no option when threatened with bankruptcy if we did not immediately sign a deed to further relinquish our rights as beneficiaries," Welker said.