Singer-songwriter Vanessa Amorosi has strongly denied ever agreeing to hand over full ownership of a Melbourne home to her mother.
The Narre Warren property is at the center of the 42-year-old’s legal battle against her mother Joyleen Robinson, which is being heard in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Amorosi claims that the $650,000 spent to purchase the home in 2001 came from a trust account set up to receive all of her earnings as a singer-songwriter.
She is seeking full ownership of the property, for which she and her mother are currently listed as co-owners.
Vanessa Amorosi arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday
Vanessa Amorosi was greeted by media outside a Melbourne court on Friday
Ms Robinson claims Amorosi agreed in early 2001 to hand over the Narre Warren home outright if her mother paid her $650,000 upon request.
The mother said she gave Amorosi $710,000 for the loan on her current American home and therefore ownership of the Narre Warren property should only be in her name.
Under cross-examination, Amorosi repeatedly denied that an agreement had been reached.
But Ms. Robinson’s lawyer, Daniel Harrison, suggested to Amorosi that she did not have a good memory, and so the agreement was reached.
He also informed her that she had bought the house in Narre Warren for her mother and had never considered it her own property.
Ms Robinson (pictured outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday)
Amorosi denied this claim, saying it was the first house she bought for herself and she always considered it her own.
“My mother wanted this property from day one, no matter what,” Amorosi told the court.
“She made it very clear that it was her dream property.”
Mr Harrison also suggested that Amorosi initiated the legal proceedings because she was in a difficult financial situation, which Amorosi denied.
The lawyer told Judge Steven Moore that Amorosi’s memories were unreliable, not out of any malice, but simply because she had a poor memory.
Mr Harrison said it ultimately came down to two people who had very different views about what did and didn’t happen.
Judge Moore should ensure Ms Robinson’s memory was the only reasonable one, Mr Harrison said.
Ms. Robinson is scheduled to testify at the trial on Friday afternoon.