Vanessa Amorosi’s bitter feud with her mother has reached boiling point, and the Australian singer is poised to fail in a Supreme Court trial.
Amorosi, 42, filed a claim in the Supreme Court of Victoria against her estranged mother Joylene Robinson in 2021, alleging “negligent conduct”.
On Tuesday, a court heard that the singer believes her mother took advantage of her wealth at the height of her popularity when she was a teenager.
Singer Vanessa Amorosi (pictured) has filed a claim in the Supreme Court of Victoria against her mother Joylene Robinson, claiming she lived solely on her career earnings
Amorosi, who flew to Australia from her home in Los Angeles to attend the trial, will take the witness stand on Thursday where she is expected to testify about how she claims her mother cheated on her.
The court heard that in 2014, Amorosi became suspicious of her mother’s relationship with her wealth when she hired forensic accountants to begin examining her mother’s handling of her wealth.
Seven years later, she hired lawyers, filing a 213-paragraph lawsuit in the Supreme Court.
Mediation between the parties has reduced that claim significantly, but there remains a dispute over two properties that Amorosi claims her mother is not entitled to.
One of those houses is the Narre Warren North cottage which was recently raided by police.
The other is Amorosi’s home in the US, which is owned by a family company that also owes $650,000 to Westpac Bank.
Amorosi’s lawyer, Philip Solimon, KC, told the court that the singer wanted control of her assets and debt.
The court heard Ms Robinson faced an uphill battle in defending the claim after she was forced to drop her lawyers in August over fears of a conflict of interest.
The lawyer she retained for Tuesday’s hearing told the court he had only been hired to apply for an unsuccessful adjournment application.
Judge Stephen Moore slammed the application for an adjournment and ordered Mrs Robinson to pay her daughter’s court costs for the day for even trying.
Mrs Robinson (pictured outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday) is accused of kidnapping her daughter
In Amorosi’s original statement of claim, she alleged that her mother took advantage of her finances in September 1999 when she was 17 and had just had a big vacation.
But in a counterclaim in which she denied defrauding her, Ms Robinson alleged the singer had breached an agreement they had made over Nar Warren North’s home.
On Saturday, Daily Mail Australia revealed the 20-acre Nar Warren North property owned by Amorosi and her mum was raided by heavily armed police.
It can now be revealed that police arrested Amorosi’s cousin, Eden Merritt, 34, on April 24 in connection with an ongoing motor vehicle theft investigation.
Merritt and a 24-year-old woman, both from Narra Warren North, were arrested that day.
Merritt appeared in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on July 17 where he was convicted of 50 counts and sent to prison for a year.
Among the charges were felonies for possession of methamphetamine and weapons, carjacking, theft, handling stolen goods and felony bail bond fraud.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting that the Aussie star actually lives in the run-down shack, or that she lived there while Merritt was there.
It also does not suggest that Amorosi had any knowledge that Merritt was wanted by the police before, while or after he was at the house.
The Amorosi Hut in northern Nar Warren is a dark blot on an otherwise colorful landscape
Vanessa Amorosi has built an impressive musical career around the world since 1999.
Opening the trial, Mr. Solimon said his client had been ‘tremendously’ successful over the past 25 years.
In 1999, when she was still a teenager, Amorosi’s mum arranged for her to see managers before advising her that her income should be protected by a number of funds.
A company called Vanjoi was created, which received Amorosi’s royalties and paid her expenses at the height of her fame.
The court heard that Amorosi’s career peaked in 2000 and several years after when she released a string of hit singles.
Mr Solimon said Amorosi was entitled to most of the Boundary Road property and the trust holding her California home.
Mrs Robinson and her husband Peter, whom Amorosi treats as his father, continue to live in the Mackenzie Lane property, in Nar Warren North, which the couple bought in 1997.
Mr. Solimon said the Boundary Road property, which was purchased in 2001, is currently owned equally by Amorosa and her mother, but argued that she should have a larger percentage.
The cottage was originally used for the singer to write and practice her music before it fell into disrepair.
The property was purchased based on the more than $3 million Amorosi made in Vanjoi in the early 2000s, Solimon said.
In November 1999, Vanessa Amorosi released the hit track Absolutely Everybody, which catapulted her to instant musical stardom.
The court heard that Amorosi’s mum was entrusted with organizing and protecting her daughter’s finances for her benefit.
“These were set-up structures – Vanessa was told, clearly, for her benefit at a time in her career when she was extremely successful; and the bride and if different structures had been put in place, or if those who were supposed to protect her had done so fairly, there would not have been a controversy 22 years later,” Mr Solimon said.
A senior lawyer said Amorosi wanted the Boundary Road property and her stepfather removed as trustee controlling her US assets.
“At the relevant time, Vanessa was between 18 and 20 years of age.” “She was entitled to form the view that her mother was doing what she said, thereby protecting her interests,” Mr. Solimon said.
Amorosi achieved major success in 1999 with the release of her debut single, ‘Have a Look’, which reached gold status in Australia.
The following year, she achieved international success with her debut studio album, The Power.
Amorosi performed at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
Her performance of ‘Heroes Live Forever’ at the opening ceremony won international acclaim.
But her song ‘Absolutely Everybody’ became the unofficial anthem of the games and became a huge hit in Australia and many European countries, including Britain and Germany.
Her combined album and single sales have exceeded two million worldwide.