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Hello Law Answers! I'm new here and I hope I posted this in the correct location! Let's begin.
I have a bit of a complex issue so here is the story and beneath that story I will state my problems that have occurred afterwards...
Once upon a time my father had cancer and my mother had a car accident and was paid around $365,000 from TAC in 2015 (and an additional $550,000 that I know of in 2017 via TPD payout). She was paid this money into my parent's joint bank account where they then decided that 'life was short' and gifted me some of that money, which I spent on a block of land and house (totalled around: $340,000 out of the $915,000). They provided me with the finances to pay for my block of land and each stage of the home (as it was being built). I didn't sign any agreements with my parents, no mortgages, loans, lease agreements etc. and I would later take total responsibility paying for my connection fees, bills, rates, fences, home improvements, furniture, white goods etc. with my own money (I even paid for the deposit of my parent's vehicle which I never had access to, my mother has since taken complete possession of it). My parents transferred the deposit for the block of land into my bank account and as I was severely sick and hospitalised, they had to withdraw the building stage finances into cheques for me as it was impossible for me to do so.
A ZIP ID person from Toll had to visit me in the hospital to verify my ID. After I was discharged, I would later meet with land and home sales reps and begin the paperwork signing processes. I signed for my block of land and the house, solely in my name. Originally, my sister was to be on the contracts with me but she was under age at the time. My conveyancer assured me that I can later have her added to my titles in the future, so I went on with the process as my parents planned on giving my sister money later on for her own house. Shortly before we moved into my home, my family began to crumble due to my mother's violent behaviour (possibly due to mental health reasons after her accident- as it was always unprovoked, random and made no sense). I moved into my home with my sister and allowed my father to stay with us. I also allowed my mother to stay on occasion in respect for my parent's marriage but I warned her that if she was to get violent, I would call police and ask her to leave. Unfortunately, due to her repeated violence, I had mum removed from my home on multiple occasions throughout 2016-2017 (and occasionally Police and Crisis Assessment and Treatment Teams would take her away for psych assessments).
In 2017, my sister, father and I would later file for Intervention Orders against my mother due to her excessive violence as the violence evolved into physical rather than the typical verbal. I thought enough was enough and I had my locks changed and wanted nothing to do with her at this stage. In 2018, my mother broke into my home with the assistance of bikers, threatened to kill me and ransacked my house before police arrived. 3-4 months later, I reluctantly removed my Intervention Order against my mother (as my father pleaded for me to do so) and once again, out of respect for my parent's marriage I allowed mum to come visit and stay with dad on occasion (especially when she was sick). Shortly after towards the end of 2018, my mother went back into her old habits and began with the violence again, now more focused on me and my sister rather than my father. As we entered 2019, my mother assaulted my sister and my sister called triple zero for ambulance and police. Police arrived and did nothing though the ambulance took mum to hospital for a routine psych assessment as she was reluctant to leave when asked.
Mum returned to my home the next day and took her medication and clothes and disappeared for 3 weeks, though she remained in contact with my father, who would leave and meet her somewhere. I was under the impression that she had her pre-organised surgery and that she would need a place to stay so I cleaned up my house a bit and awaited for her return so that I could commence caring for her, despite her violent behaviour, because I'm just that type of hospitable person and, well, she's my mum. Not long into her disappearance, she was deceiving my father that she was having this surgery. I began to get paranoid thinking she'd return with the bikers again so I changed my locks again as I was fearful that she was up to no good again with her friends. On the evening of the 26th of February, police showed up at my home and served my father, sister and I with Interim Intervention Orders and told us to leave my home. I attempted suicide multiple times with my sister as we became homeless and lost everything but the clothes we had on our bodies. We had to wait until October this year to have our hearing, which due to lack of court resources, we held out for 8-months for nothing as all parties agreed to cross Intervention Orders rather than wait until October 2020 to continue the so far one-sided hearing. I say one-sided because, mum was speaking on the stand for 2 days and the magistrate got frustrated with the family as we 'couldn't sort anything out' and neither other party got to speak nor provide any damning evidence to the contrary. This criminal magistrate was assigned to our case on the last minute and he was fed up as he had multiple people to sentence in criminal matters and wasn't interested at all in sorting out our case and on occasion became abusive towards all parties in the room as he simply didn't want to hear it.
The magistrate didn't want to determine who owned the property (I never got to provide my documents, contracts or any evidence at all). My mother, under oath, stated that the home was hers and that my contracts were all fakes. She accused my father of holding a gun to her head and coerced her to change the title and contracts to my name and destroy the original documents. Her lawyer threatened to take me to the family court and 'put the house back onto her name'. The house fact ended here with the magistrate as far as he was concerned, despite all of it being a massive lie and me having all the evidence to state otherwise. I never got a chance to speak or give evidence and ultimately, the decision was made to allow my mother to squat in my house (after breaking in sometime in March 2019) and exclude my sister, father and I, causing us to live in poverty, barely scrounging up enough Centrelink money to keep a roof over our heads. I've also fallen behind on all my bills and rates since then (and are paying for mum's usage). I also had a car accident and since my mother removed me from the insurance after this Intervention Order situation, I cannot get the car fixed (nor the other party's car as I was at fault) and need to pay for a rental car on top of my already horrid financial situation.
I attempted to sell my home once and mum put a 'financial trust' caveat on it (whilst she was in a mental health hospital). I finally had that caveat removed free of charge this year via a community legal centre. Literally a day later, she put a 'constructive trust' caveat on my home. The land titles office said I should have received a letter to dispute it within 30 days but mum steals my mail and I wasn't aware of what she was doing. I was also told that there was a simple Section 89A form that can be filled out by me, signed by a legal practitioner and sent to whoever took the caveat out on my property. Nobody wants to assist me and I cannot afford any help. One lawyer said they could caveat my home but I never heard from them after several months. I was about to begin my law enforcement career but the Intervention Order prevents me from doing so and dad lost his job recently due to my mother threatening his work colleagues (and of course, lost his credentials due to his Intervention Order). My sister has disabilities and hasn't even finished school. My mother however, has 'hijacked' my home, destroyed everyone's lives and is sitting on more than enough money for another home.
I just want to go back to my home and or have this other frivolous caveat removed. What on Earth do I do? Can anyone assist? This entire situation is unfair and my entire family was destroyed. I'd appreciate any assistance ASAP as I don't think I can cope with this any longer. I cannot even go to my own house and retrieve my property from within. I already provided police with all my titles and they don't understand how this has happened. I cannot send a letter asking for my mother to vacate my premises as it will be viewed as family violence (according to some, not all). The previous magistrate would also refuse my applications for leave, not allowing me to go home and have mum excluded as everyone is going by mum's word of mouth and nothing more.
My sister has attempted suicide over 20 times this year as she blames herself for all this even though it was mum's fault for assaulting her. I plea for someone to help me out. I'm not just fighting for my house, I'm fighting for my sister. She was a victim of assault. My father and I were simply innocent bystanders. These Intervention Orders shouldn't even exist.
Please. Please. PLEASE someone help me out here. I'm all out of options as Victoria Legal Aid, West Justice and my community legal centres cannot do anything for me regarding this.
I have a bit of a complex issue so here is the story and beneath that story I will state my problems that have occurred afterwards...
Once upon a time my father had cancer and my mother had a car accident and was paid around $365,000 from TAC in 2015 (and an additional $550,000 that I know of in 2017 via TPD payout). She was paid this money into my parent's joint bank account where they then decided that 'life was short' and gifted me some of that money, which I spent on a block of land and house (totalled around: $340,000 out of the $915,000). They provided me with the finances to pay for my block of land and each stage of the home (as it was being built). I didn't sign any agreements with my parents, no mortgages, loans, lease agreements etc. and I would later take total responsibility paying for my connection fees, bills, rates, fences, home improvements, furniture, white goods etc. with my own money (I even paid for the deposit of my parent's vehicle which I never had access to, my mother has since taken complete possession of it). My parents transferred the deposit for the block of land into my bank account and as I was severely sick and hospitalised, they had to withdraw the building stage finances into cheques for me as it was impossible for me to do so.
A ZIP ID person from Toll had to visit me in the hospital to verify my ID. After I was discharged, I would later meet with land and home sales reps and begin the paperwork signing processes. I signed for my block of land and the house, solely in my name. Originally, my sister was to be on the contracts with me but she was under age at the time. My conveyancer assured me that I can later have her added to my titles in the future, so I went on with the process as my parents planned on giving my sister money later on for her own house. Shortly before we moved into my home, my family began to crumble due to my mother's violent behaviour (possibly due to mental health reasons after her accident- as it was always unprovoked, random and made no sense). I moved into my home with my sister and allowed my father to stay with us. I also allowed my mother to stay on occasion in respect for my parent's marriage but I warned her that if she was to get violent, I would call police and ask her to leave. Unfortunately, due to her repeated violence, I had mum removed from my home on multiple occasions throughout 2016-2017 (and occasionally Police and Crisis Assessment and Treatment Teams would take her away for psych assessments).
In 2017, my sister, father and I would later file for Intervention Orders against my mother due to her excessive violence as the violence evolved into physical rather than the typical verbal. I thought enough was enough and I had my locks changed and wanted nothing to do with her at this stage. In 2018, my mother broke into my home with the assistance of bikers, threatened to kill me and ransacked my house before police arrived. 3-4 months later, I reluctantly removed my Intervention Order against my mother (as my father pleaded for me to do so) and once again, out of respect for my parent's marriage I allowed mum to come visit and stay with dad on occasion (especially when she was sick). Shortly after towards the end of 2018, my mother went back into her old habits and began with the violence again, now more focused on me and my sister rather than my father. As we entered 2019, my mother assaulted my sister and my sister called triple zero for ambulance and police. Police arrived and did nothing though the ambulance took mum to hospital for a routine psych assessment as she was reluctant to leave when asked.
Mum returned to my home the next day and took her medication and clothes and disappeared for 3 weeks, though she remained in contact with my father, who would leave and meet her somewhere. I was under the impression that she had her pre-organised surgery and that she would need a place to stay so I cleaned up my house a bit and awaited for her return so that I could commence caring for her, despite her violent behaviour, because I'm just that type of hospitable person and, well, she's my mum. Not long into her disappearance, she was deceiving my father that she was having this surgery. I began to get paranoid thinking she'd return with the bikers again so I changed my locks again as I was fearful that she was up to no good again with her friends. On the evening of the 26th of February, police showed up at my home and served my father, sister and I with Interim Intervention Orders and told us to leave my home. I attempted suicide multiple times with my sister as we became homeless and lost everything but the clothes we had on our bodies. We had to wait until October this year to have our hearing, which due to lack of court resources, we held out for 8-months for nothing as all parties agreed to cross Intervention Orders rather than wait until October 2020 to continue the so far one-sided hearing. I say one-sided because, mum was speaking on the stand for 2 days and the magistrate got frustrated with the family as we 'couldn't sort anything out' and neither other party got to speak nor provide any damning evidence to the contrary. This criminal magistrate was assigned to our case on the last minute and he was fed up as he had multiple people to sentence in criminal matters and wasn't interested at all in sorting out our case and on occasion became abusive towards all parties in the room as he simply didn't want to hear it.
The magistrate didn't want to determine who owned the property (I never got to provide my documents, contracts or any evidence at all). My mother, under oath, stated that the home was hers and that my contracts were all fakes. She accused my father of holding a gun to her head and coerced her to change the title and contracts to my name and destroy the original documents. Her lawyer threatened to take me to the family court and 'put the house back onto her name'. The house fact ended here with the magistrate as far as he was concerned, despite all of it being a massive lie and me having all the evidence to state otherwise. I never got a chance to speak or give evidence and ultimately, the decision was made to allow my mother to squat in my house (after breaking in sometime in March 2019) and exclude my sister, father and I, causing us to live in poverty, barely scrounging up enough Centrelink money to keep a roof over our heads. I've also fallen behind on all my bills and rates since then (and are paying for mum's usage). I also had a car accident and since my mother removed me from the insurance after this Intervention Order situation, I cannot get the car fixed (nor the other party's car as I was at fault) and need to pay for a rental car on top of my already horrid financial situation.
I attempted to sell my home once and mum put a 'financial trust' caveat on it (whilst she was in a mental health hospital). I finally had that caveat removed free of charge this year via a community legal centre. Literally a day later, she put a 'constructive trust' caveat on my home. The land titles office said I should have received a letter to dispute it within 30 days but mum steals my mail and I wasn't aware of what she was doing. I was also told that there was a simple Section 89A form that can be filled out by me, signed by a legal practitioner and sent to whoever took the caveat out on my property. Nobody wants to assist me and I cannot afford any help. One lawyer said they could caveat my home but I never heard from them after several months. I was about to begin my law enforcement career but the Intervention Order prevents me from doing so and dad lost his job recently due to my mother threatening his work colleagues (and of course, lost his credentials due to his Intervention Order). My sister has disabilities and hasn't even finished school. My mother however, has 'hijacked' my home, destroyed everyone's lives and is sitting on more than enough money for another home.
I just want to go back to my home and or have this other frivolous caveat removed. What on Earth do I do? Can anyone assist? This entire situation is unfair and my entire family was destroyed. I'd appreciate any assistance ASAP as I don't think I can cope with this any longer. I cannot even go to my own house and retrieve my property from within. I already provided police with all my titles and they don't understand how this has happened. I cannot send a letter asking for my mother to vacate my premises as it will be viewed as family violence (according to some, not all). The previous magistrate would also refuse my applications for leave, not allowing me to go home and have mum excluded as everyone is going by mum's word of mouth and nothing more.
My sister has attempted suicide over 20 times this year as she blames herself for all this even though it was mum's fault for assaulting her. I plea for someone to help me out. I'm not just fighting for my house, I'm fighting for my sister. She was a victim of assault. My father and I were simply innocent bystanders. These Intervention Orders shouldn't even exist.
Please. Please. PLEASE someone help me out here. I'm all out of options as Victoria Legal Aid, West Justice and my community legal centres cannot do anything for me regarding this.
