Children cite cognitive decline; Ford’s side alleges greed
The lawsuit was filed by four of Ford’s children, including Jeremy Ford, who became chair of Hilltop in 2025 and serves as CEO of the holding company. The stake at issue represents a controlling block of shares in Hilltop, which Ford built after joining a predecessor company in 2005 and expanding it through acquisitions that included PlainsCapital Bank.
At the center of the dispute is whether Gerald J. Ford remains capable of managing his own affairs. The children claim Ford suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2017 and has since experienced worsening cognitive decline and dementia, according to court filings reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. They allege he is being taken advantage of by an executive of his family office and by Kelli O. Ford, his wife of more than 25 years.
Ford’s side denies that he is incapacitated and refused a cognitive test, according to court documents. “The allegation that Kelli manipulates or controls Jerry is false and deeply unfair,” a spokesman for Gerald and Kelli O. Ford said. “They share a loving and supportive partnership of more than 25 years.”
In a sworn statement filed in late August, Jeremy Ford said his father had not been capable of making important business or legal decisions for years, citing repeated instances in which Ford forgot which city he was in. “Gerald J. Ford has significant memory problems,” Jeremy Ford wrote, reiterating allegations that Kelli O. Ford was attempting to block him from seeing his father.
Ford’s children from his second marriage, including 22-year-old Electra Ford, have sided with their father against the plaintiffs. “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 wrote in a letter to Hilltop’s board of directors that was viewed by the Journal.
The dispute spilled into the company’s governance in late July, when Gerald J. Ford withheld his votes for the entire board at Hilltop’s annual shareholder meeting. The four plaintiff children disputed his ability to vote the shares held by a family investment vehicle. The impasse led the company to report the board vote as two separate outcomes, with three directors falling short of a majority.
The underlying legal fight began 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. He argued his father had been threatened with liquidation by family-office executives and by his wife. Jeremy Ford and his siblings sued in July 2025, seeking to force a transfer that would give them control over the votes and prevent liquidation. The parties agreed to a settlement soon after, according to court filings revealed later.
Under that agreement, Gerald J. Ford would relinquish control of certain family entities in exchange for payouts valued at about $185 million, while retaining roughly a fifth of the stock. The deal also preserved perks Ford would keep, including titles to a Mercedes-Maybach and two boats in the Hamptons, access to the family jet and ranch, and the corporate box at AT&T Stadium, where the Dallas Cowboys play. The company holds a 20-year lease for the box and pays more than $600,000 a year for it, 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 was not binding, citing irregularities in due diligence and the need to name additional parties to the settlement.
Most of the economic benefit from the stock already accrues to the children, but voting control and management of the shares remains with their father. If Ford were to die, it is unclear who would receive voting control of his stake, leaving open questions about a major block of shares for the company, the Journal reported.
A Hilltop spokesman said the litigation was a “private family matter” and has not affected operations. The company said the board was “fully apprised” of the litigation and looks forward to a resolution that eliminates the uncertainty.
Independent investors have shown little concern. Wall Street analysts barely mention the litigation, and several declined to be interviewed. Hilltop shares are up more than 20% since the suit was initially filed.
Gerald J. Ford made his name investing in distressed or undervalued banks, often alongside corporate raider Ronald Perelman, and then flipping them for profit. He is worth about $3.2 billion, according to Forbes, and his name adorns Southern Methodist University’s football stadium. He has been seen golfing with former President George W. Bush, owns a ranch for breeding race horses, and has been a fixture on the Texas charity circuit.
Hilltop, which controls about $15 billion in total assets, now houses PlainsCapital Bank, mortgage originator PrimeLending, and investment bank Hilltop Securities. PlainsCapital’s deposits have fallen in three of the last four years amid competition from national megabanks and online alternatives, despite many of its more than 50 branches being in faster-growing metropolitan areas in Texas.