Question
On 4 March 2020, Ms Angela Wang and Mr Bruno Greco, a married couple, were registered as joint proprietors of the fee simple in 58
On 4 March 2020, Ms Angela Wang and Mr Bruno Greco, a married couple, were registered as joint proprietors of the fee simple in 58 Boxwood Street, Balwyn. The purchase price of 58 Boxwood Street was $3 million. Angela used her savings to pay one-sixth of the purchase price. Bruno obtained a loan from his brother, Roberto, to pay a further two-sixths of the purchase price. The remainder of the purchase price was covered by a loan from Friendly Bank which Angela and Bruno were jointly liable to repay. Friendly Bank was granted a registered mortgage over 58 Boxwood Street as security for the loan and, in accordance with usual practice, was given control of the electronic certificate of title. In early April 2021, Bruno was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. His doctors were hopeful that a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy would put the cancer into remission. Otherwise, they estimated his life expectancy to be about 5 years. Upon learning this, Roberto expressed concern about what would happen if Bruno died before repaying his (Roberto's) loan. On 16 April 2021, Angela and Bruno had a discussion about Roberto's concerns which ended with the pair agreeing that, if Bruno died before Roberto's loan was repaid, 58 Boxwood Street would be sold and the amount owing to Roberto repaid out of Bruno's share of proceeds. They informed Roberto of this agreement at a family dinner that same day. Bruno's cancer and/or his treatment regime seemed to have a negative impact on his personality and behaviour. After several months of living with this change, Angela decided she could no longer cope. In October 2021, she moved out of 58 Boxwood Street and into the home of her adult son by a previous marriage, Dinesh Kumar. Dinesh, who was a bachelor, was very pleased to have Angela living with him because she took on all the housework and cooking without even being asked. The physical and mental impacts of Bruno's demanding treatment regime meant that he had to give up his paid employment. Luckily, he was eligible to claim on his income protection insurance. Of more concern, Bruno also found that he was incapable of carrying on the day-to-day business of living unassisted. When Angela moved out, therefore, he turned to his sister, Camila, asking her to move into 58 Boxwood Street and provide the necessary assistance. At the time Bruno made his request, Camila, then aged 55 and widowed, was living in Bendigo in accommodation provided as part of her employment as a full-time aged care worker in an aged care facility in that town. Camila pointed out to Bruno that she would have to give up her existing job if she moved into 58 Boxwood Street and that she would not be able to work full-time in Melbourne if she needed to structure her life around assisting him. Page 9 of 10 To convince Camila to accede to his request, Bruno promised to give her half of his interest in 58 Boxwood Street. He told Camila that he would get a transfer of the interest to her registered straight away but forgot to do so. Every few months thereafter, he remembered that the task remained to be done but forgot again before actually doing it. Camila for her part believed that Bruno had done what he had promised to do. Based on that belief, she gave up her job and moved in with Bruno in November 2021. From then on, Camila was the person who did all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry and other domestic tasks that needed to be done for their household of two. She also drove Bruno to and from his many medical appointments. As she had predicted, all this kept Camila too occupied to also hold down a full-time job equivalent to the one she had given up. Instead, she had to content herself with working casually at a Balwyn aged care facility at times that Bruno was unlikely to need her. On average, Camila picked up a couple of shifts each week. Since she did not have to pay rent, the income from this work was sufficient to cover her living expenses. On 29 February 2024, Angela died in a plane crash. Her will purported to leave her interest in 58 Boxwood Street to Dinesh. This did not come as a surprise to Bruno, because Angela had informed Bruno in late 2022 that she planned to do that. At the time, Bruno had said "You can do what you like with your share; it's nothing to do with me." However, after Angela's death he told Camila that he had decided to contest any claim Dinesh made to a property interest in 58 Boxwood Street. Camila was appalled and tried to talk Bruno out of this proposed course of action. Bruno responded to Camila's remonstrations by telling her that she wasn't getting any interest in 58 Boxwood Street either.
Between 4 March 2020 and now what property interests, if any, have Angela, Bruno, Camila and Dinesh had in 58 Boxwood Street or have they become entitled to claim? You are expected to explain your legal reasoning fully.
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