Australian singer-songwriter Vanessa Amorosi has emerged victorious in the bitter court battle against her mother, who she sued after the pair had a dramatic falling out over her fortune.
Amorosi, known for smash hits like Absolutely Everybody and Shine, initially launched a lawsuit against her mum, Joyleen Robinson, in the Supreme Court of Victoria in order to seize control of two properties she claimed were rightfully hers.
Ms Robinson lives in one of the properties at Narre Warren, in Melbourne's south-east, while her husband, Amorosi's stepfather, is the director of a trust which owns the other in Los Angeles.
Amorosi currently shares ownership of the Narre Warren home with her mother, and lives in the Los Angeles property.
Late last year, lawyers for her mother conceded that as Amorosi was the sole benefactor of the trust, the Los Angeles property could be given to her, leaving only the Narre Warren home at the centre of the acrimonious feud.
Both Amorosi and Ms Robinson were put on the title for the Narre Warren house when it was purchased.
But Ms Robinson claimed that in 2001, she made an agreement with the singer to have full ownership of the home in exchange for a future payment of $650,000.
Today, Justice Steven Moore ruled in favour of Amorosi.
"Mrs Robinson has not persuaded me as to the existence of the Narre Warren agreement," the judge said.
"I find there was no such agreement."
Amorosi is in the United States and was not in court for the judgement.
Justice Moore also ordered that Amorosi be made the trustee of the trust which owns her Los Angeles home.
But it was not a complete victory for Amorosi, who was ordered to pay her mother $650,000 plus $219,486.33 in interest in the form of "restitution" — a total of nearly $870,000.
As Amorosi's star rose, 'everybody became the enemy', court heard
Emotions ran high during the judge-alone trial which saw Amorosi fly from her home in the United States to give evidence against her mother.
Over the course of the trial, the Supreme Court heard details of Amorosi's early career and the role her mother played.
The court was told Amorosi's parents would ferry her to a Russian restaurant at Carnegie, in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs, where she was discovered by one of her managers, music industry veteran Mark Holden.
Her career would go from strength to strength and she exploded in popularity after singing at the Sydney Olympics, ultimately making millions as she toured the world.
Amorosi's earnings were funnelled into a trust, which collected her royalties and any other income, and whose sole director and shareholder was her mother until it was transferred to her stepfather in 2014.
"I discussed with my mum because she was very fearful of people wanting to steal the money," Amorosi said.
"The person at the end of the day that you are to trust is your mum because she's there, because she really loves me and doesn't need anything else from me other than for me to be her daughter," she said.
"As time progressed and I made more money and I became more successful, everybody became the enemy. Boyfriends were enemies, husband was the enemy. She was to be the only one there with the right intentions and I believed it."
Dispute sparked 'war between the family', court heard
But the trial heard that their relationship would eventually deteriorate in 2014 after Amorosi moved to the United States and could not afford to pay down a loan on another property which she ended up selling.
Amorosi said she spoke to her mother on the phone during this time.
"When I knew I was going to be losing the property there was a lot of turmoil going on and I couldn't get the answers to what had really gone down and why I was losing my house," Amorosi said.
"She said I spent all the money and that I should come home and get to work. I should go back to touring.
"It turned into a bit of a stand off … asking that question to my mum had my siblings very angry so it started a war between the family."
The Supreme Court heard Amorosi and her mother would eventually fall out completely by 2015 and Ms Robinson was in the dark about her daughter's pregnancy until she was informed by another family member.
"'Good luck with the delivery of your baby boy, I hear it's any day now. So who's the one really playing games? I will always love you no matter what,'" Ms Robinson wrote in an email.
The falling out eventually sparked Amorosi to hire forensic accountants to track her money before she launched legal action, claiming the Narre Warren home was wholly hers.
But her mother, Ms Robinson, vehemently disagreed and told the trial her daughter purchased the house for her as a gift.
"Vanessa said to me, 'I'm going to buy this house for you, mum, it's perfect for you,'" Ms Robinson said on the witness stand.
Both Amorosi and Ms Robinson shared ownership of the Narre Warren home when it was purchased.
But Ms Robinson claimed that she struck a deal with Amorosi in 2001 for full ownership in exchange for a future one-off payment of $650,000.
"My daughter and I were like one person. I loved her, I thought she loved me, which she did. She was a good daughter," Ms Robinson said.
"The agreement we had was she was buying me a house because she, she loved me a lot," she said as she wept during cross-examination.
"I thought that we both were on the same page, that when she needed the money I would sell the only property that was in my name and my husband's name to help her, and that was our agreement between mother and daughter."
But lawyers for Amorosi described her recollection as "fanciful".
"There was never a conversation that I was going to give her a house as a gift," Amorosi later said on the witness stand.
"My mum wanted that property from day one no matter what," she said.
"She made it very clear it was her dream property."
Ms Robinson also claimed squatter's rights to the property, which was rejected by the court.
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