14 DAY TRIAL // Looks like Samsung's chairman is definitely not experiencing any familial peace, not that this is a new development.
The wife and two sons of the late Lee Jae-chan, a grandson of the Samsung founder, have filed an inheritance suit against current company leader Lee Kun-hee.
They claim that the man transferred shares under his own name from the trust that Lee Byung-chull created before passing away.
Under the terms of the suit, Jae-chan's wife seeks 454,847 shares in Samsung Life Insurance Co., 10 preferred and 10 common stocks in Samsung Electronics, 100 Samsung Life stocks and 100 million won ($88,000 / 66,086 Euro) in cash.
Meanwhile, her sons want 100 million won ($88,000 / 66,086 Euro) in cash and 300,231 shares in Samsung Life Insurance Co., another 100 Samsung Life stocks and 10 preferred and 10 common stocks in Samsung Electronics.
All in all, Lee Kun-hee is definitely not having the time of his life.
In fact, this newest move against him is just the third of its kind that started over the past two months. We wouldn't even be surprised if another inheritance lawsuit cropped up.
The first to place such charges was the Samsung chairman's elder brother, back around the middle of February.
"The concerned stocks of Samsung Life and the life insurance firm itself were assets put in a trust under the name of non-heirs, and they should have been apportioned to the heirs according to law," the elder Lee said in the court records.
"Upon our father's death, Chairman Lee did not inform peer heirs and heiresses of the trust and unilaterally put them under his own name."
Not long afterwards, their sister brought her own misgivings out in the open, cementing this as a long-term family feud. We can't say how it will end, but we are pretty sure the ones involved won't be a big happy family again, assuming they ever were.