Martin Luther King's children in a legal battle over Bible, Nobel Prize

Martin Luther King Jr.'s children are at odds over who owns their father's Bible and Nobel Peace Prize medal, and depending on which side wins, the historical items could soon be up for sale.

Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King say that their sister, Bernice Albertine King, "secreted and sequestered" the Bible and medal, violating a 1995 agreement that gave the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., Inc. ownership of all of King's property. The for-profit was founded in 1993 to manage licensing of King's image and intellectual property, the Los Angeles Times reports, and all three children are shareholders.

The estate wants to sell the items to a private buyer, something Bernice King has spoken out against in the past. Outside of an Atlanta courtroom Tuesday, Dexter King said, "This is not an issue of wanting to sell them. This is an issue of ownership and retrieving property. An individual has sequestered property that belongs to the corporation." The judge did not make a ruling, and if he doesn't issue a summary judgment or the two sides reach a settlement, the case could go to trial in February.

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