A disgraced former nurse who received more than $1 million in inheritance from an elderly patient she had met less than four weeks before his death has been ordered to hand over the remaining funds to his family.
A lawyer representing a relative of Lionel Cox, a 92-year-old Melbourne man who died in 2015, has claimed the will leaving former nurse Abha Anuradha Kumar as a large estate was created in “the most suspicious circumstances imaginable”.
Last week, Supreme Court Justice Melissa Daly ordered that the grant of probate be revoked, giving Kumar the power to administer Cox’s estate.
Although the value of the estate has decreased due to a series of transfers made by Kumar to cover legal fees, the more than $880,000 that remains will be given to Mr. Cox’s cousins. The age reported.
Kumar was a manager at Cambridge House, a residential aged care facility in Collingwood, in inner-city Melbourne, when he met Cox in 2015, according to court documents.
He quickly learned that the elder had no immediate family or will, but owned valuable property in nearby Fitzroy.
Kumar purchased a will kit within three days of learning of the sick and frail man’s plight and three weeks later persuaded two other Cambridge House staff to witness his handwritten will, a statement of claim alleges. .
However, she also did not say that she was listed as the executor and sole beneficiary of Mr. Cox’s estate.
Lionel Cox, 92, from Melbourne (pictured), left his estate to former nurse Abha Anuradha Kumar.
Kumar bought a will (pictured) for Cox three days after learning he owned property but had no immediate family.
Cox passed away after a brief battle with pneumonia on August 9, 2015.
Kumar was allegedly not working on the day of his death, but called Cambridge House to demand that a junior employee search his belongings for his house key, before his body was taken to a funeral home.
The nurse quickly became the “informant” on Mr Cox’s death certificate and obtained a grant of probate from the Supreme Court in November 2015.
Mr Cox’s estate was valued at more than $1 million and Mr Kumar made $1,117,000 from his Greeves Street home when he sold it in 2016, $36,277 in cash and personal items valued at $3,000.
The lawyer representing his cousin Geoffrey Cox, a beneficiary of the latest court decision, argued that Kumar’s actions constituted financial abuse of the elderly.
Abha Anuradha Kumar (pictured) was accused of being named the sole beneficiary of Lionel Cox’s estate in “the most suspicious circumstances imaginable”.
“It’s an important reminder that the law can and will eventually catch up with you,” James Dimond of the Moores law firm told the publication.
‘This is a rare situation involving a medical professional, but elderly and vulnerable people are separated from their assets or pressured to sign wills and other dubious legal documents all the time.
“The court system is plagued with cases of elder financial abuse, usually involving close family members.”
Kumar was issued a ‘revocation summons’ in a Supreme Court action brought by the state trustees, owned by the Victorian government, in August 2021.
The trustee’s lawyers alleged Kumar failed to execute Mr Cox’s will in accordance with the law and acted against the elderly man’s wishes.
The Supreme Court’s decision last Thursday came five years after Kumar was banned from being a registered health professional.
An investigation by the Nursing and Midwifery Board found he had committed professional misconduct.
The remains of Mr Cox’s estate (pictured) will be given to his surviving cousins.
A Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing in 2019 heard Kumar was a “deeply flawed character” and posed a risk to the public as he “lacks reliability and integrity”.
“The conduct in this case constituted purposeful and goal-directed actions by Ms Kumar to ensure that Mr Cox – a vulnerable elderly person in her care – made a will in her favour, and that no one knew she had done so until after he died,” his ruling said.
Kumar was banned from working or volunteering in any aged care facility or being a registered healthcare professional for five years.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Kumar’s lawyer for comment.