Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi plans to sell the home her mother has lived in for two decades after a court ruled she was entitled to full ownership.
The Absolutely Everybody artist sued Joyleen Robinson for sole ownership of two properties last year after the pair had a falling out almost a decade earlier over what had happened to her early 2000s music earnings.
One was Ms Amorosi’s current home in California while the second was a semirural Narre Warren property in Melbourne’s south-east Ms Robinson had lived in since 2001.
Last month, Supreme Court Justice Steven Moore ruled Ms Amorosi was entitled to the properties but would have to pay her mum almost $870,000 in restitution.
The case returned before Justice Moore on Wednesday afternoon after three weeks of negotiations between lawyers on both sides over how to execute his judgment failed.
‘Discussions haven’t resolved the matter, we’re grateful for Your Honour to sit late to deal with it now,’ Amorosi’s barrister Joel Fetter said.
Mr Fetter said his client would need to sell the Narre Warren property to settle the restitution debt but her mother had so far refused to allow real estate agents access.
He told the court his proposed plan was for orders to allow Ms Amorosi to sell the property but introduce a stay on restitution to allow time for the sale to proceed.
Joyleen Robinson (pictured centre in October 2023) claimed her daughter bought the property for her. It was claimed on Wednesday that Ms Robinson won’t allow access to real estate agents to sell it
To ‘sweeten the deal’, Mr Fetter said, she would allow Ms Robinson to stay in the home for 90 days rather than the usual 14 day period.
‘There is a quid pro quo there that, in my submission, is of benefit to Ms Robinson, rather than getting evicted within 14 days … she gets 90 days,’ he said.
Ms Robinson’s barrister, Daniel Harrison, put forward an alternative plan that includes Ms Amorosi discharging the mortgage and getting a fresh one that would remove her mother and stepfather as guarantors.
He then suggested Ms Robinson could place a ‘equitable lien’ on the property until she is repaid.
‘We say the only proper way is effectively to require Ms Amorosi to take sole responsibility for all liabilities,’ he said.
‘We simply say an equitable lien is the appropriate way of dealing with that.’
Justice Moore thanked the parties and adjourned a judgment, saying he needed time to consider the proposals.
Ms Amorosi launched the legal action in March 2021, seeking sole ownership of a trust that listed both women as owners.
The Narre Warren property at the centre of the dispute
She claimed the properties were bought using her music royalties, and now believed her mother had been ‘very generous’ with the millions of dollars she earnt.
In emotional testimony, she told the court she believed her mother had taken control of her finances as a teenager.
Ms Robinson countersued, claiming the Narre Warren home was bought for her and the pair had made an agreement in the kitchen of their previous family home that if the singer ever hit financial difficulty, Ms Robinson would repay the initial $650,000 purchase price.
In 2014 she paid $710,000 from the sale of their previous home to pay down Ms Amorosi’s $1.2m California mortgage, claiming the agreement had been fulfilled.
Ms Amorosi shot to stardom after headlining the 2000 Sydney Olympics (Picture: Instagram/ @toddevision)
But Justice Moore found the ‘kitchen agreement’ had never happened, with Ms Robinson to be reimbursed the $650,000 plus $219,486 in interest.
At trial, Ms Robinson said she always acted in her daughter’s interest and was following the advice of an accountant Ms Amorosi’s manager had recommended.
The case will return to court at a later date.
Further arguments on who should pay court costs will occur later this year.
