A battle over the estate of legendary Gold Coast surf photographer Martin Tullemans has ended after a court found the man's alleged dying wishes raised "suspicion" and could not be considered his final will.
Marty Tullemans died in December 2020.
He was one of the country's best-known surfing photographers.
Through MTVz — Marty Tullemans Visualz — he documented surfers and surfing culture from the 1970s through to the early 2000s.
Shortly after his death, his sister Mary Shaw sought a grant of probate by the Brisbane Supreme Court for a will and "letter of wishes" alleged to have been penned by Mr Tullemans in 2019.
But his stepdaughter Tamar Tane disputed the 2019 document's validity, arguing a will drafted in 2013 was in fact Mr Tulleman's final wishes.
The court found the validity of the 2013 will was not in dispute, but Ms Shaw argued the 2019 documents, which had been placed in an envelope marked "powderkeg" and stored in a safe, revoked the earlier will.
In a judgement handed down by the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday, Justice David Jackson pronounced in favour of the 2013 will.
It appointed Ms Tane as executor and left Mr Tulleman's entire estate to her and her three siblings.
The 2019 document had left $50,000 to Ms Tane to divide between her siblings and $50,000 to Mr Tulleman's brother Frank and the remaining to Ms Shaw.
Prior to his death, Mr Tullemans was living in a cabin at the Kirra Beach Tourist Park and the court proceedings alleged a neighbour, Deborah Phillips, along with Mr Tullemans' father, Petrus Tullemans, had witnessed the 2019 home will kit document.
A typed "letter of wishes" was also enclosed with the will on a letterhead for Mr Tullemans' surf photography business.
The court heard he had allegedly typed the letter at his father's computer.
In finding in favour of Ms Tane, Justice Jackson described Ms Shaw a "disingenuous witness" who was more interested in "filling any gaps in her story than in providing real evidence".
He found the 2019 will raised "a number of questions" including details about the estate of Mr Tullemans' father, who did not die until 2020.
"If this … was drafted in 2019, why does it refer to the estate of a man who did not die until May 2020," Justice Jackson said.
The judgement also found Mr Tullemans' former partner Barbara's name was misspelt in the typed letter a number of times, despite being spelt correctly in Mr Tullemans' handwritten correspondence.
Justice Jackson also noted in the letter and in text messages from Ms Shaw the same typographical "quirk" appeared, where a space was placed between the final word in a sentence and a full stop.
The court also found a "clumsily" written date on the letterhead and the fact the document was written entirely by Mr Shaw not Mr Tullemans "raises suspicion".
A document examiner told the court the signature on the will appeared to have been traced and that "the retouching appeared to be careful and painstaking".
In concluding, Justice Jackson said he was not satisfied the 2019 will was valid and several circumstances "together invoke a well-founded atmosphere of suspicion".
