HONOLULU -- A daughter of Don Ho is accusing the late entertainer of deceiving her dying mother.

Dondi Ho-Costa claims her father violated a deathbed agreement with her mother.

The dispute is over a Lanikai beachfront property.

It is where Don Ho's first wife, Melva, raised Ho's first six children.

In a court petition, Ho-Costa alleged her father in 1999 made a verbal promise to her mother to "place the (Lanikai) home into a trust for Melva's benefit for her life, and then for the benefit of her children... after she died."

However, Ho-Costa alleged in the lawsuit that, "Don failed to do so, and thereby breeched the agreement."

Ho-Costa said in the lawsuit that Don Ho transferred the Lanikai home to his own trust, which benefits Ho's first six children as well as four children from two other mothers. Those include Ho's second wife, Haumea, and his longtime friend Liz Guevara. That means the original six children would get a lot less money.

Family law attorney Frank O'Brien talked in general about such cases. He said they are difficult to prove.

"Some of these lawsuits can go on for years, and years and years," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said the there is a problem when an alleged agreement is verbal.

"They are very difficult. Basically, you are dealing in many of these cases with one person's word against another," he said.

After his death, Ho's Lanikai property went on the market for $6.8 million.

Ho's property is in escrow now pending a sale to a mainland buyer. Trustees of Ho's estate said they expect the sale to move forward.

However, Ho-Costa wants a new trust drawn, guaranteeing that the Lanikai property instead goes to only her and her siblings as she said her dying mother wished.

In a new book by Don Ho and co-author Jerry Hopkins called Don Ho: My Music, My Life, Ho stated where he thought the Lanikai house should go.

"I kept the house in Lanikai. That's Haumea's house. When I kick the bucket, that's her house," Ho is quoted.