The epic battle for control of the Thyssen family fortune that has been on hold in the Bermuda courts could be settled within the week, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Rumours about a settlement of the lengthy - and expensive - court case, in which father is suing son for control of a $2.7 billion family fortune, have been rife since the presiding judge abandoned his post last March, leaving the case hanging.

It appears that since then, lawyers on all sides have been inching forward in a bid to reach a settlement which will leave all parties with their pride, if not their wallets, intact.

Last night legal sources confirmed that lawyers have been meeting all this week in camera (behind closed doors) to iron out legal technicalities which will ease the way to a settlement which could happen as early as Friday.

The feud between Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza and son Georg had been raging in the Supreme Court on and off for 18 months before it was dramatically halted.

Different sides of the feuding family had been seeking a settlement with meetings between Zurich and London during the summer, but rumours that the case was about to come to a halt never materialised. Last year one of the earliest signs that there was a settlement afoot was news that the Governor's office in Bermuda had stopped looking for a replacement for Justice Mitchell.

The complicated case revolves around Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, who is suing his eldest son Georg for the $2.7 billion family fortune. The 81-year-old baron claims his son owes him $232 million with arrears and loss of value.

A team of 32 lawyers from both England and Bermuda had been working on the case which has cost an estimated $100 million, or $600,000 a week.