Colleen McCulloch's husband inherits entire estate

By Olivia Caisley, The Australian

Blockbuster author Colleen McCullough spoke from “beyond the grave” in an unsent letter to her husband and would not have wanted him to inherit her multimillion-dollar estate because of a “terrible breakdown” in their marriage, a lawsuit over her will has heard.

The opposing parties yesterday delivered their closing submissions on the eighth day of the case brought by McCullough’s executor and friend Selwa Anthony, who said the University of Oklahoma Foundation was the sole beneficiary of McCullough’s estate, while the author’s widow­er, Ric Robinson, said his wife left everything to him.

Both disagree over whether a document from July 2014 or a document from January 2015 constituted the will of the author of The Thorn Birds.

Ms Anthony has accused Mr Robinson of taking advantage of his wife’s deteriorating health to unduly influence her will in the days before her death on January 29, 2015, but Mr Robinson denies the claims.

In his closing submissions yesterday, Ms Anthony’s barrister, Kim Morrissey, told the court there had been a “terrible breakdown” in the marriage by 2015 and a drafted letter to her husband was like “Dr McCullough speaking from beyond the grave”.

In the October 2014 letter tendered in court, McCullough wrote that Mr Robinson had “made no attempt to disguise” his “antipathetic sentiments” towards her and criticised his “chauvinistic attitude” despite being financially supported by a woman throughout their 30-year marriage.

She questioned whether she could trust Mr Robinson and accused him of subjecting her “to a lot of pressure and criticism simply to fuel your desire for more money”.

Mr Morrissey said the letter was “utterly inconsistent” with an intention to leave her husband the estate and showed antipathy by McCullough to her husband.

“Dr McCullough had cut down his source of income,” Mr Morrissey said. “He was raging about that being cut off. He knew he was in the dog box then. He knew that a new will had been made.”

Mr Robinson’s barrister, David Murr SC, said despite their “fairly precarious” situation, McCullough’s reference to taking steps to reduce their joint debts indicated her intention to leave everything to him.

Mr Murr conceded the couple had reached an “unhappy truce” after Mr Robinson’s extramarital affair, which involved his return to the marital home to take up the role of paid carer for ­McCullough. 

However, in a ruling in the Supreme Court, Justice Nigel Rein said a document signed by McCullough in October 2014 overwrote the previous version and left the entire estate to Mr. Robinson. 

 A claim that she wanted to leave her fortune to the University of Oklahoma Foundation was dismissed.