Family Trust Issues to Determine Clippers Sale

The sale of NBA franchise the Los Angeles Clippers will hinge on the technicalities of family trust law and whether owner Donald Sterling’s estranged wife was allowed to negotiate a deal to sell the team.

The trial for the US$2bn sale of the franchise will take place on July 7 and will not focus on whether Sterling is mentally incapacitated, clinic confirmed the Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas.

The case will look at whether Shelly Sterling followed the terms of the trust when she declared Donald as incapacitated.

She forged a deal to sell the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in May after Sterling was filmed making racist remarks to his girlfriend.

The NBA moved quickly to remove him as owner and the case has been ongoing ever since.

Shelly Sterling’s attorneys say the deal with Ballmer is part of winding down the trust’s affairs, medicine whilst Donald Sterling’s attorneys say his move to revoke the trust on June 9 means probate court has no jurisdiction.

If a sale isn’t complete by September 15, the NBA has said they will seize the team and put it up for an auction.