A Sydney woman who drained her grandmother’s entire savings shortly before her death and then left the 93-year-old’s multimillion-dollar home “uninhabitable” has been unrestrained by a judge.
Justine Bosschieter, 53, a National Disability Insurance Scheme worker, brought a claim over her grandmother’s inheritance to the New South Wales Supreme Court, in an action that backfired.
As a result, Ms. Bosschieter was ordered to repay $200,000 she took from her relative and pay for damage caused to the deceased’s home in Forestville while she lived there.
The legal drama began when the grandmother’s Forestville home was sold for $2.85 million following her death, with the assets to be divided equally among her four children and one of her grandchildren.
Mrs. Bosschieter wanted a larger portion.
She had been living at the Forestville property with the deceased and was acting as his carer at the time of his death.
Mrs Bosschieter received a regular Centrelink pension for caring for her grandmother and paid “significantly reduced rent”.
But in November 2021, during Covid restrictions, Bosschieter took his grandmother with her oxygen tank, which she used to help her breathe, to a bank branch.
Bosschieter was living at the property with the deceased and acting as his carer at the time of the $200,000 donation, according to a NSW Supreme Court decision.
Justine Bosschieter, a 53-year-old NDIS worker, left the Forestville property so damaged and littered that it cost $55,000 to repair and clean up.
The grandmother transferred more than $200,000, her “life savings,” from a time deposit account to Mrs. Bosschieter’s personal account.
The elderly woman had experienced mental deterioration in the previous months and did not receive legal advice regarding the transfer, according to the decision.
“The deceased was physically and emotionally dependent on Justine, who was her guardian from the outside world.”
Two of the deceased’s children testified that she had always expressed her intention to leave the term deposit to her four children equally, which the court accepted.
“The Court does not accept Justine’s evidence that the deceased spontaneously wanted her to have the $200,000,” Judge Slattery said.
The grandmother contracted Covid at home in January 2022 and died a month later from Covid-related pneumonitis.
“Someone brought the infection into the house and it can be inferred that there was not sufficient control within the house to protect it,” the judge said.
The deposit money was then “quickly withdrawn”, approximately four months after the death.
It cost the estate $55,000 to clean up the Forestville property, which sold in February for $2.85 million.
Bosschieter gave most of the $200,000 to his children, although some was also spent in “authorized places,” Judge Slattery said.
Mrs Bosschieter’s explanation was that she gave most of it to her children, which the court accepted, “although there were other discretionary personal expenses made with the funds, some of them at authorized locations”.
In the deceased’s final will, made in March 2021, she left one-fifth of her estate to Mrs. Bosschieter, with the remainder distributed equally among her four children.
He also granted Mrs. Bosschieter the right of first refusal to acquire the Forestville property.
But in February 2023, Bosschieter initiated court proceedings seeking “additional provision from the deceased’s estate.”
She sought provision to be able to ‘purchase her own home, buy a good quality second-hand car, replenish her savings account with the contingency for unplanned future expenses of $250,000 and complete her retirement to the tune of $150,000, and provide a fund for future medical expenses of $100,000’.
He ignored letters from the deceased’s estate, executed by one of the deceased’s sons, asking him when he would vacate the Forestville property.
In May 2023, the estate filed a cross-claim seeking reimbursement of the $200,000 transfer.
In November 2023, Ms. Bosschieter and her family finally left the Forestville property, four months after the property terminated its lease.
“Photographic evidence shows that it was abandoned in an extremely dilapidated state,” Judge Slattery said.
‘The Forestville property was left in an uninhabitable condition with obvious signs of property damage and trash strewn both inside and outside the home on the property.
“(Justine’s) conduct in leaving the Forestville property in the state in which she did is completely disgraceful.”
It cost the estate $55,000 to clean the property.
The house was then sold in February for $2.85 million, without Bosschieter exercising his right of first refusal to buy it.
Judge Slattery concluded that Ms Bosschieter obtained the $200,000 gift through undue influence.
He ordered that the $200,000 plus interest, along with $55,000 in cleanup costs, be deducted from his share of the estate.