Aussie star’s court feud with mum over house concludes as costs awarded

An Aussie pop sensation’s bitter feud with her mother over claims her finances were mismanaged has finally come to an end in a Melbourne court.

Noughties pop sensation Vanessa Amorosi and her mother Joyleen Robinson have been ordered to pay each other’s legal costs after both women technically won different aspects of their long and bitter legal dispute over a suburban home. 

The 42-year-old Absolutely Everybody singer won her claim of ownership over the property in Melbourne’s south, but Ms Robinson technically won her countersuit claiming the house was purchased for her.

The Narre Warren North home at the centre of the dispute. Picture: Google Maps

The ruling meant that the ARIA award nominee could only evict her elderly mother from the Narre Warren property if she paid her more than $870,000 in restitution and interest. 

Ms Amorosi was initially suing for sole ownership of the Narre Warren property and a second home in California, both of which were bought using her music earnings but controlled by a trust that lists both women as joint owners.

The basis of her mother’s countersuit was that the Melbourne home that she has lived in for the past 21 years, was bought for her.

Ms Robinson was adamant the two women agreed the home was for her and that if Ms Amorosi ever needed money, she would repay the original $650,000 purchase price.

Ms Robinson’s argument rested on a “verbal understanding” with her famous daughter. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

She said there was only ever a verbal agreement to buy the property, described as her “dream home”, because “it was a mother and daughter that trusted each other”.

Ms Amorosi claims the conversation and agreement was fabricated in about 2015 after the pair had a falling out.

The court was told Ms Robinson sold her previous home the same year her daughter’s money troubles began to surface, after which $710,000 was used to pay down the California loan.

By 2017, Ms Amorosi had engaged forensic accountants to examine the financial records of the trusts, before launching the legal action in the Supreme Court in early 2021.

In court documents, she accused Ms Robinson of “unconscionable conduct” by seizing control of her finances when she was a teenager.

Costs incurred by each woman are yet to be calculated.

Originally published as Aussie star’s court feud with mum over house concludes as costs awarded