Author Colleen McCullough left entire estate to husband, court rules

The NSW Supreme Court has ruled author Colleen McCullough left her entire estate to husband Ric Robinson, ending a lengthy and protracted legal fight.

The critically acclaimed novelist's estate has been at the centre of a bitter feud between her husband and the executor of the estate Selwa Anthony.

Justice Nigel Rein handed down the decision this morning, more than three years after McCullough died on Norfolk Island on January 29, 2015.

The court battle focused on a document McCullough wrote at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney in July 2014, which bequeathed her estate to the University of Oklahoma.

Described as "the Oklahoma Will", this document would have seen her estate transferred to the American university, which Mr Robinson accepted was valid before the trial started.

But Mr Robinson claimed a new will was written on either October 24, 2014, or on January 17, 2015, just a week before McCullough's death.

During the trial Ms Anthony, one of McCullough's closest friends, claimed this document was written to relieve the pressure Mr Robinson had been placing on his wife about the estate.

In his findings, Justice Rein said by signing and documenting the new will, McCullough intended to revoke the "Oklahoma Will" and bequeath the entire estate to Mr Robinson.

Justice Rein also found Mr Robinson did not coerce his wife into signing those documents.

Best known for her internationally acclaimed novel The Thorn Birds, McCullough's estate was worth about $2 million.

During the trial, the court heard that McCullough had kicked her husband out of their home because he had taken a mistress, only to bring him back two weeks later because she could no longer afford care.

In May this year, it was revealed McCullough was visited by her lawyer Piria Coleman in October 2014 to redraft the will in favour of Mr Robinson.

Ms Coleman told the court she was worried about her client's health when she noticed bruising on her arm.

When Ms Coleman went back a second time to sort out the rewritten will, she claimed her client was too ill to sign the document properly.

Mr Robinson's lawyer David Murr contended that the document false.

Mr Murr asked: "Why did you write it?"

“Because I was worried about it," Ms Coleman said. "It was easier for Dr McCullough if Ric believed he was going to get everything."

At this point Justice Nigel Rein asked: “You were setting out to deceive Ric?"

"I was lying, if anything, to Ric, not to Col," she said.