Court filings show Gerald Ford's children sued to block a stock sale that could hand outside buyers control of Hilltop Holdings, and a year later the family still has not settled.
A family dispute over control of Hilltop Holdings, a roughly 2.2 billion dollar Texas-based financial services holding company, is playing out in a Texas business court and in the company's SEC filings.
In July 2025, Gerald J. Ford's side of the family, through a group of entities including Diamond A Financial LP, filed a Schedule 13D amendment signaling intent to sell some or all of its Hilltop stock. Four of his children, Jeremy Ford, Amy Ford Prestidge, Maegan Ford Nicholson, and Jordan Ford, sued in response, arguing the sale would breach fiduciary duties owed to family trusts. The parties reached a standstill agreement barring stock transactions while a Texas court considers a temporary injunction request. That ruling has not yet come down.
An August 2026 SEC filing shows the Ford Group collectively holds 25.2 percent of Hilltop's outstanding shares, with Diamond A Financial LP alone holding 24.7 percent. The same filing describes a contemplated but unfinished settlement: voting and dispositive control of those shares would transfer to the four children, Gerald Ford's partnership interest would be redeemed, and he would receive a 21.6 percent stake in the partnership's Hilltop shares as consideration. No dollar figures accompany the proposed terms, and no settlement has been executed.
The dispute has already surfaced in a shareholder vote. At Hilltop's July 2026 annual meeting, the disputed 15.5 million Diamond A Financial shares were voted to withhold support from all thirteen director nominees, against the say-on-pay proposal, and to abstain on ratifying the company's auditor. Every proposal passed regardless of whether those shares were counted. Hilltop states in its own filings that it is not a party to the family's litigation.
For shareholders, the distinction is important. The governance dispute is real, unresolved, and now well documented, but it has not yet changed the company's operations or board composition. That could change if the pending injunction disrupts the settlement framework or if the disputed shares are eventually sold to an outside buyer with a meaningful influence on Hilltop's ownership structure.