Artist John Olsen sues stepdaughter Karen Mentink over Burradoo estate sale
Famed artist John Olsen has launched another legal action in an attempt to force his estranged stepdaughter to hand over the money from the sale of a multimillion-dollar Southern Highlands estate.
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- Olsen family feud: stepdaughter in court over $2.2m gift
Famed artist John Olsen has launched another legal action in an attempt to force his estranged stepdaughter to hand over the money from the sale of a multimillion-dollar Southern Highlands estate.
In the latest chapter of the bitter feud between Mr Olsen and Karen Mentink, the 92-year-old artist has asked the NSW Supreme Court to force his stepdaughter to pay him the money from the property sale.
The stunning property on Werrington St, Burradoo, sold on July 24 for an undisclosed price and previously sold in 2015 for more than $2 million.
According to property records, the property was signed over to Ms Mentink by her now deceased mother, Katherine Howard-Olsen, in 2017.
John Olsen and Ms Mentink have been locked in legal battles since last year over the millions in the family estate.
In September last year, Ms Mentink lost a legal battle where the NSW Supreme Court ruled she used “undue influence” to influence her terminally ill mother to give her a $2.2 million gift.
Justice John Sackar ruled that Ms Mentink preyed upon Katherine Howard-Olsen and pressured the elderly woman to give her the money just two months before she died.
Ms Mentink has appealed the decision.
Earlier this year she also launched a separate lawsuit to claw back what she says is rightfully hers after her elderly stepfather removed her as a beneficiary of his will in 2017.
Ms Mentink has laid claim to a quarter of the value of all the Archibald Prize winner’s artworks, his John Olsen company, and three properties worth nearly $2 million.
But now in the most recent case, Mr Olsen is asking for a court order stipulating that Ms Mentink must pay the proceeds from the sale of the Burradoo property into an account controlled by him.
Alternatively, Mr Olsen has asked the court to force Ms Mentink to pay the money into an account controlled by the court.
Lawyers for Mr Olsen filed the summons in the Supreme Court on July 31.
At the time of Ms Howard-Olsen’s death in December 2016 the couple had been married for 27 years.
On October 11, 2016, she withdrew $2.2 million and gave the money to her daughter.
Born in Newcastle, Olsen rose to become one of Australia’s best known artists and is known for his landscape works. He won the 2005 Archibald Prize for his work, known as Self portrait Janus Faced.
The case continues.