A legal tug of war between an 18-year-old El Paso heiress and her father over a $1.7 million trust wound up in district court on Tuesday. *** is suing his daughter, ***, who is countersuing him to gain control of a trust. *** is seeking a declaratory judgment against his daughter in 346th District Court. He wants Judge *** to declare a second trust, which was signed by his daughter, as valid. The second trust postpones payments to *** for several years. The teenager claims she was coerced by her father and the El Paso law firm of *** into signing away her rights to the $1.7 million when she turned 18 years old on Aug. 25, 1987. She claims that she was an "involuntary patient" of KIDS of El Paso when she was told to sign the document. Her father placed her in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for more than 20 months, court records state. During that period, she charges she was subjected to physical and mental abuse. She claims the reason she agreed to the second trust agreement was that she was "fearful" that if she didn't sign the document, she would be subjected to "further physical and mental abuse." The same day *** signed the second trust, she also signed her last will and testament prepared by ***, leaving $200,000 to KIDS of El Paso. Two KIDS staff members acted as witnesses to the will. *** told the judge his daughter was a "behavior problem child" who was "out of control" at the time she was admitted to the rehabilitation program. He said he paid $90,000 to keep her in an Austin rehabilitative program for two years. *** told *** that *** is a "druggie" who is 18 years old but that "she may still be" a child. "A child means something more than chronology," he replied to question by *** attorney, ***. ***, who had at one time been married to *** older sister, advised the young woman to sign the trust. *** told *** that he didn't know what the teenagers mental capability was, whether she could read or write or what grade she had completed in school at the time she signed the documents.
