Costello inheritance battle looms

Famed SA artist Michael Costello had scarcely died when the fight over his R8m estate began. Now — seven months later — his estate still has not been finalised as family and friends fight over his art and his beloved farm. 

Costello's sister Kate Maurer wants to contest the will, saying he was not in his right mind when he changed his beneficiaries to exclude her in favour of a close corporation consisting  of his ex-wife and three best friends just a month before he died.

But she feels she is entitled to some of the family heirlooms, she told Sunday Times.

“These people are in the process of selling my brother’s and my belongings and assets, the house is in the process of being sold. I have asked for help. I am left with nothing. No home, money for food or rent.”

She had claimed her brother was not in his right mind when he changed his beneficiaries to exclude her in favour of the close corporation just a month before he died.

Costello was most famed for his paintings of Arabian horses. He was also a sculptor working in wood and metal and besides horses he painted portraits of friends, birds, fish and “exotic women”, according to the SA Artist, an online auction which sold many of his works. The price of these portraits range from R25,000 — R66,667.

He died on July 21 of cancer. Lea Coleman, his  former wife, whom he divorced 25 years ago, was at his bedside

Costello’s estate includes his farm in Hills and Dales near Lanseria and his art collection as well as his art work. 

Maurer believes she was left out of his will because Costello was on pain medication, drinking heavily and not in his right mind when he drew up the new will. 

But Coleman and executor of the will, Henri Allant, said this was not true, since he also had a nurse monitoring him.

Maurer told Sunday Times she was living in Germany when her brother became ill. “My brother sent me his final diagnosis and asked us to move to the farm as he did not have much time left. My husband had died six months earlier and I decided to move back to SA in 2020 to look after my brother.”

She said Coleman suddenly appeared a few months before Costello died. She said she was kicked out of the house and only knew about the change to his will after his death.

“I have lost everything, also valuable family heirlooms. Now I don’t even have enough money to get back to Germany.”

But the beneficiaries, two of whom asked not to be named, say her claims are unfounded. They allege Costello changed his will after overhearing his sister intended selling the farm and his art.

Costello’s brother, John did not contest the will.

“I have no comment on the matter, he was my brother and I learned long ago to stay away from matters of inheritance. I was not privy to the agreements and so cannot speak about them,” he said.

Allant had known Costello since they were neighbours in Plettenberg Bay in 1993.

He said the farm was in the process of being sold but that there was a hold on the will until all the assets had been brought back - some of his paintings were on exhibition and up for sale, but everything had now been withdrawn so the estate could be wrapped up.

Costell fell ill in 2017 and his friends and family say he stayed in the Morningside Hospital ICU for six months. 

Allant said he helped pay the hospital bill by selling some of Costello’s paintings.

He said Coleman helped her ex-husband during his illness and said Maurer was not destitute and was receiving money from her husband’s pension. But Maurer said the amount was too small to live on.

A family friend who did not want to be named said Costello had educated himself. 

“He was hardworking. He would get obsessed about a subject and work until he knew it thoroughly. He once went to Australia because that’s where the world’s best whipmaker was and he wanted to learn how to make a whip — that’s the kind of person he was.”

The friend added that at 13, Costello started an apprenticeship with an artist. 

“That’s why his farm was so important to him, it was his legacy. He had a good friend circle and he spent his time with other really famous South African artists.”

Coleman said she had no knowledge of the farm being sold.

“He wanted that farm to become his legacy. Before he died he turned it into a sort of museum. I would never sell it."

Editors note: This story has been amended to correct a statement that Kate Maurer had lost a high court case contesting her brother Michael Costello's will. There was no high court application, and no court declared an application invalid. Maurer had been corresponding with the Master of the High Court for assistance in bringing an application. A quote attributed to the court should have been attributed to the master's office. The story also incorrectly stated that Costello had been buried, and that Maurer's husband had died several years previously. We apologise to Maurer for the errors.