The Hill branch of Dallas' storied Hunt oil dynasty is back in court, with a 21-year-old Vanderbilt University student claiming a family trust tied to oil baron H. L. Hunt was quietly stripped of millions that were supposed to help the grandchildren.
Caroline M. Hill has filed suit in Dallas County Probate Court No. 2, asking for access to the books and records of the Lyda Hunt–Margaret Trust. In her petition, she describes herself as a contingent beneficiary and alleges the trust, which she says should hold at least $15 million, was “looted” and effectively dissolved, leaving little for the younger generation. It is the latest flare-up in a generations-long fight inside the Hunt family over trusts created from the oil fortune.
According to Justia, a Jan. 30 memorandum opinion by U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay rejected an attempt by defendants to use a 2010 global settlement to shut down Hill’s state-court case. Lindsay concluded that the Lyda Hunt–Margaret Trust "was a separate trust that was never litigated, mentioned, or incorporated into" that earlier deal. He also noted that the family’s federal docket runs to more than 2,060 entries and held that the federal court’s continuing jurisdiction did not extend to the Lyda trust. The ruling cleared a major procedural hurdle and let the probate action move forward, at least for now, in Dallas County.
Appeals court refuses to pause probate fight
The Dallas Morning News reports that Hill’s petition repeats the claim that the Lyda Hunt–Margaret Trust should contain at least $15 million but was "looted" and dissolved, and that defendants tried to block the state case from going forward. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in an unpublished March 10 order, denied a request for an injunction pending appeal and left the dispute to play out in Dallas County probate court instead.
William A. "Bill" Brewer III, who represents Hill, told The Dallas Morning News that his client "literally just wanted information" about how the trust was handled. He said she hopes discovery will finally produce answers ahead of a March 16 deadline.
What the filings accuse and who’s named
Federal filings and the state petition spell out who is in the crosshairs and what they are accused of doing. Justia shows that Hill filed her original petition on Sept. 5, 2025, naming several defendants: Margaret Keliher, as independent executor of the estate of Albert G. Hill Jr., Carol E. Irwin, as independent executor of the estate of Ivan Irwin Jr., Joyce E. Waller, as co-trustee, and Galatyn Finance LLC.
The pleadings seek a full accounting and allege that trustees and executors distributed or dissipated trust assets between 2014 and 2017, leaving little or nothing for contingent beneficiaries like Hill. In the often complicated world of family trusts, that is a serious accusation, even by Hunt-family-litigation standards.
Legal implications
Defendants have argued that the 2010 Global Settlement and its waiver of standing should bar Hill’s state claims entirely, and they asked federal courts to enforce that bar. Judge Lindsay, and in a narrower way the Fifth Circuit, declined to grant that broad relief at this stage.
As The Dallas Morning News explains, the legal fight now hinges on two big questions: whether the Lyda trust was ever actually part of the 2010 agreement, and how Texas law treats contingent beneficiaries and trusts that have been terminated. A probate order that forces a detailed accounting could uncover transactions that spark follow-on civil claims or fresh attempts to invoke the federal settlement. A ruling the other way could keep the conflict bottled up in estate court.
What to watch now
All eyes now turn to discovery, where the real paper trail, or lack of one, tends to surface. Watch for the parties’ responses and any motions to compel or emergency filings in the coming days. The March 16 discovery deadline could bring the first meaningful look at what happened to the Lyda Hunt–Margaret Trust, and determine whether this stays a narrowly focused accounting dispute in a Dallas probate courtroom or ripples back into the sprawling, years-long war over the Hunt family trusts.
