The last will and relationship agreement of a Queensland rich-lister

The estate of former Queensland rich-lister Keith Lloyd can finally be settled after a court ruled that an ex-partner had already been paid out and was not entitled to another $1 million from the sale of his luxury properties and superyacht.

Lloyd died in November 2023, aged 85, and was survived by children and grandchildren from his first marriage to ex-wife, Meta.

He left an estate that included his Kangaroo Point home – around the river bend from his former pink mansion at Norman Park – and Mistress, a 46-metre Italian-built superyacht, moored on the Gold Coast.

Queensland businessman Keith Lloyd died in 2023, leaving an estate that included a Gold Coast condominium, Brisbane apartment, and a 46-metre superyacht called Mistress.Credit: Monique Westermann

A former shipbuilder and businessman, Lloyd founded Shafston International College in Brisbane but resigned all positions in 2004 amid accusations of sexual impropriety involving students. No charges were laid.

That same year, according to documents filed in court after his death, Lloyd began a de facto relationship with 28-year-old Zamira Adib Martinez. They never married.

The pair signed a relationship agreement in 2010, which set out their financial arrangement “with the purpose of promoting harmony between Keith and Zamira during their relationship and in order to avoid litigation between them in the event that their relationship should break down”.

The agreement noted that Adib Martinez was an accountant at Shafston International College, on a $60,000 salary, while Lloyd was self-employed and earning $566,332 per year.

Under the agreement, Lloyd was to pay for all joint living expenses, plus spousal maintenance of $50,000.

“If the parties separate, for whatever reason, then Keith agrees to pay Zamira … a lump sum of $500,000 plus a further sum of $50,000 for every completed year of cohabitation which follows the date of this agreement,” the agreement states.

The arrangement was referenced in Lloyd’s 2016 will, to which he later added a codicil stating that, in the event he died before his partner, Adib Martinez would be entitled to $1 million and allowed to keep living in an apartment at Shafston Mansions.

The view from Keith Lloyd’s apartment at Kangaroo Point, looking out over Shafston House and the Brisbane River.

Several years later, the relationship broke down. Lloyd and Adib Martinez signed a separation agreement in December 2020, by which time Lloyd had executed a new will.

The separation agreement, also filed in court, stated that Lloyd was to pay Adib Martinez only $300,000 to formally conclude their relationship. While she could keep her Porsche and jewellery, she would have to vacate the Shafston Mansions apartment and a condominium at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast.

“To be clear, Keith and Zamira desire to have crystallised and settled once and for all the whole of the financial matters between them by reference to the Binding Financial Agreement, their relationship and all other matters between them personally,” the separation agreement states.

Lloyd’s friend and lawyer Paul Hopgood, founder of law firm Hopgood Gamin, wrote in a statutory declaration that Lloyd told him shortly after the 2020 will was executed that his relationship with Adib Martinez was over. By 2023, Lloyd believed Adib Martinez was in a new relationship, and asked Hopgood to have her removed from his will completely.

While Hopgood finalised a codicil to that effect, he referred to the 2016 will that had been retrieved by a staff member. It was later discovered that the 2020 will had technically remained unchanged, leaving open the possibility that Adib Martinez might be entitled to make a claim for $1 million and occupation of the Shafston Mansions apartment.

“I did not realise until after the Deceased’s death that I had referred to the [revoked] 2016 Will, and not the last [2020] Will, when I dictated the codicil,” Hopgood wrote.

A year ago, the executors of Lloyd’s estate asked the Supreme Court to confirm his intent with regard to the various agreements, wills and codicils. Lawyers told the court Adib Martinez received $300,000 at the end of their relationship, as agreed, and did not oppose the application to have her left out of Lloyd’s will.

Documents in a separate probate case have not been released by the court. In his 2020 will, Lloyd left $5 million to his daughter and $5 million to each of his three sons, a Hawthorne property to his grandson, with the balance of his estate to be distributed among them equally.

Lloyd’s superyacht, Mistress, is on the market for $7.95 million, while offers are open on his Kangaroo Point home – technically two, two-bedroom apartments – until April 27.

His condominium at Palazzo Versace, now known as the Imperial Hotel, was also up for sale in recent years, as was his best-known superyacht, Southern Cross II.

Lloyd sold his shipbuilding company to Christopher Skase in the 1970s, while Southern Cross II was used by Alan Bond during Australia’s 1983 America’s Cup win, before the colourful businessmen fell from grace.

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