A family battle over a billionaire's fortune, from boats and a jet to Dallas Cowboys tickets, is rankling the board of a small regional bank in Texas.

Texas banking veteran Gerald J. Ford is ensnarled in a legal fight with some of his adult children over a large stake in Hilltop Holdings, the $2.2 billion financial-services holding company he forged. Four of Ford's children-including son Jeremy, who took over as chair from Ford in 2025-are suing to wrest away control of their father's more-than-26% stake in Hilltop, worth some $600 million.

At the core of the disagreement is family drama: The children claim Ford (no relation to the former president) is suffering from cognitive decline, and is being manipulated by his longtime second wife, Kelli O. Ford, and others. Ford's camp, which includes children from his second marriage, rejects that and says it is simple greed and an attempt by his older children to gain millions on top of what they have already been gifted.

The disagreements over estate planning have now morphed into something that may belong more on an HBO dramedy than in a boardroom.

In late July, Ford withheld his votes for the entire board at the company's annual shareholder meeting, which would mean three directors didn't get a majority of votes. The four children disputed his ability to vote the shares held by a family investment vehicle.

The board chair and CEO is personally suing his largest individual shareholder, who is also his father.

If Ford, 82 years old, were to die, it is unclear who would get voting control of his stake, leaving open questions about a major block of shares for the bank.

"It is a war of attrition waged by a sitting Chairman and CEO against his own benevolent father, on the apparent theory that time and exhaustion will extract what negotiation could not," Electra Ford, Ford's 22-year-old daughter from his second marriage, wrote in a letter to Hilltop's board of directors viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The latest salvo in the case came in late August, when Jeremy Ford said in a sworn statement that his father had not been capable of making important business or legal decisions for years, noting repeated examples in which his father forgot which city he was in.

"Gerald J. Ford has significant memory problems," Jeremy Ford wrote, reiterating his allegations Kelli O. Ford was attempting to block him from seeing his father.

"The allegation that Kelli manipulates or controls Jerry is false and deeply unfair. They share a loving and supportive partnership of more than 25 years," a spokesman for Gerald and Kelli O. Ford said.

Ford made his name investing in distressed or undervalued banks, often alongside famed corporate raider Ronald Perelman, and then flipping them for a big profit. He joined a predecessor to Hilltop in 2005 after investing in the business. In the years that followed, the company acquired PlainsCapital Bank and other smaller banks.

It now also houses mortgage originator PrimeLending and an investment bank called Hilltop Securities, controlling about $15 billion in total assets.

Ford, worth about $3.2 billion according to Forbes, became a prominent socialite and mainstay of the Texas business community. His name adorns Southern Methodist University's football stadium, and he has been seen golfing with former President George W. Bush. He owns a ranch for breeding race horses and has frequented the Texas charity circuit.

But regional and community banks have been struggling to keep their depositors in recent years, facing fierce competition from national megabanks and online investing alternatives. PlainsCapital has been no different: Deposits have fallen in three of the last four years, despite many of the company's more than 50 branches being in faster-growing metropolitan areas in Texas. More superregional banks, such as Fifth Third and Huntington are looking to expand in the state, ratcheting up competition.

Jeremy Ford, Ford's first son, took over as CEO of the holding company in 2010, when he was 35. He later became head of PlainsCapital Bank and chairman of the holding company. Since gaining more influence, he has emphasized cutting costs to boost profits and continue returning capital to shareholders.

Two boats and Cowboys box seats

The saga kicked off in April 2025 when Jeremy Ford claimed his father was incapacitated, triggering a clause that would allow him to buy out his father's interest in the family entities. Jeremy Ford argued his father had suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2017 and had since experienced more cognitive decline and worsening dementia, according to court filings. He alleged his father was being taken advantage of by an executive of his family office and his wife Kelli and that they had threatened to liquidate the assets.

Most of the economic benefit from the stock already accrues to the children, but voting control and management of the shares rests with their father.

Ford's side denied he was incapacitated and refused a cognitive test, the court documents say. Jeremy Ford and his siblings sued in July, seeking to force a transfer which would give them control over the votes and prevent liquidation.

The parties agreed to a settlement soon after, which was recently revealed in court filings. Ford would relinquish his control of certain family entities, in exchange for payouts valued at about $185 million, according to the documents. He would hold on to about a fifth of the stock.

The perks of the banker life were included too: Ford would keep the titles for his Mercedes-Maybach and his two boats in the Hamptons. He would retain access to the family jet and ranch, as well as the corporate box at AT&T Stadium, where the Dallas Cowboys play. (The company has a 20-year lease for the box, for which they pay over $600,000 a year, according to regulatory filings.)

In June, the deal fell apart. Ford's lawyers said the children reneged, proposing new terms that were less valuable and would leave Ford with less stock. He asked the court to enforce the term sheet, revealing elements of the deal publicly.

The children say the term sheet wasn't binding, alleging irregularities in due diligence and the need to name additional parties to the settlement.

The impasse led to the unusual board vote, which the company reported as two separate outcomes.

A Hilltop spokesman said the litigation was a "private family matter" and hasn't had an effect on operations. The company said the board was "fully apprised" of the litigation and looks forward to a resolution that eliminates the uncertainty.

Independent investors, for their part, have seemed little bothered. Wall Street analysts barely mention the litigation, if at all, and several declined to be interviewed for this story. Hilltop shares are up over 20% from when the suit was initially filed.