Write a memorandum to Anthony Berkeley setting

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

If you believe that any important facts are missing from the assignment scenario, indicate in your answer how such missing facts might be relevant to answering the question.

For the purpose of answering, please disregard any legislation not covered in class which may be applicable to the facts.

Mila Nowak and Lily Owen first met in early 2000 on the set of a film in which Lily was acting and on which Mila was a freelance film editor. They commenced a romantic relationship and not long after decided to move in together

. They found a lovely place in Bendigo (the Bendigo Property), which they purchased together at a price of $300,000.

They each contributed $15,000 of their independent savings to pay the deposit of $30,000 and took out a bank loan of $270,000 on which they were jointly liable to cover the remainder of the purchase price. On 7 February 2001, they were registered as joint proprietors of the fee simple in the Bendigo Property.

Over the years which followed, Mila and Lily each experienced periods during which they had a lot of paid work and other periods during which they had little to no paid work.

While they maintained separate bank accounts, they each contributed as much as they could afford toward home loan repayments and other household expenses and did as much housework as they could fit in around their paid work

. As things transpired, Lily was much more successful in her career than Mila. This meant that by the time the home loan was repaid in full in early 2021, Mila had paid off $85,000 plus interest while Lily had paid off $185,000 plus interest. On the other hand, Mila had probably done most of the housework most of the time.

In mid-2021, Lily was offered and accepted an ongoing acting role in a hugely popular drama series filmed in Los Angeles in the United States of America.

This necessitated relocating to Los Angeles. Mila, however, refused to follow Lily to Los Angeles and their relationship broke up. Mila continued to live in the Bendigo Property after Lily moved out.

In late 2021, Mila obtained a highly paid permanent position as a film editor with Skippy Film Productions based in Bendigo. Shortly, thereafter, she commenced a romantic relationship with 23-year-old Nika Horvat, who was a production assistant at Skippy Film Productions.

Because of the demanding nature of their respective jobs, Mila and Nika found that they barely saw each other. Mila suggested to Nika that the solution to this problem was for Nika to give up her job and the apartment she was renting from month to month, move into the Bendigo Property and become a full-time homemaker.

Nika was initially reluctant to take such a lifechanging step, but Mila persuaded her saying You know Ill always look after you, babe. Taking Mila at her word, Nika moved in with her and took responsibility for all domestic work.

By early 2023, Lily had realised that she would probably live in Los Angeles for the rest of her life. She, therefore, decided that she might as well sell her interest in the Bendigo Property.

Lily recollected that, just before she departed for Los Angeles, her good friend Ranjan Premadasa had expressed interest in buying the Bendigo Property. Accordingly, Lily brought up the possibility with Ranjan during a catch up Zoom call on 26 February 2023

.Ranjan jumped at the opportunity to buy Lilys interest because he was confident that he could later persuade Mila to sell her interest to him as well. By the end of their Zoom call, Ranjan and Lily had reached agreement that Lily would sell her interest in the Bendigo Property to Ranjan at a price of $400,000.

On 6 March 2023, Ranjan sent Lily an email copied to Lorac & Berkeley, the law firm which Lily used in relation to her Australian affairs. Ranjans email set out the essential details of the verbal agreement between himself and Lily and notified her that he had made an electronic funds transfer of the agreed deposit of $80,000 into her Australian bank account. Neither Lily nor Lorac & Berkeley responded to the email; in Lilys case this is because she died in an on-set accident in Los Angeles on 8 March 2023.

In her will, executed prior to her departure for Los Angeles and left in the custody of Lorac & Berkeley, Lily left all her property real and personal to her nephew, Benjamin Wang. Anthony Berkeley of Lorac & Berkeley was named as executor in the will.

You are an employee of Lorac & Berkeley. You have been tasked by Anthony Berkeley with looking into the whole mess. In so doing, you have discovered that Mila has lodged an application under section 50 of the Transfer of Land Act 1958 (Vic) to be registered as sole owner of the fee simple in the Bendigo Property.

You have also confirmed that Ranjan has, in fact, transferred $80,000 into Lilys Australian bank account. Finally, you have discovered that Nika, who was recently dumped by Mila, is claiming that she has an interest in the Bendigo Property.

You are required to write a memorandum to Anthony Berkeley setting out what interest, if any, Benjamin, Mila, Nika and Ranjan have or are entitled to in the Bendigo Property. You are expected to explain your legal reasoning fully.