Family at war: ‘We’re still not a bank’
An elderly couple who have waged an almost two-year court battle with their daughter to get back a $367,903.90 loan, have resorted to trying to sell a property she owns.
The plight of Marian and Trevor Warin made headlines in 2017 after they took their accountant daughter Colleen Warin to court over the loan, which they said Colleen failed to repay despite repeated requests. An associate judge in the High Court at Wellington agreed, ruling she should pay it back plus interest.
Marian Warin posted on social media at the time: ‘‘You need to get jobs and borrow off the bank like normal people. Trevor and I are not a bank.’’
But Marian, who is in her 80s, and Trevor, who is in his 90s, still don’t have the money. They have returned to court to get what they say is their daughter’s Waiheke Island property sold to recoup at least part of the debt.
The case has split the couple’s extended family, with claim and counter claim being made about what was really going on, who was doing what, and with what motives.
A court decision, issued on November 6, said Colleen Warin disputed the sale order her parents obtained for a Waiheke Island property.
The original April 2017 court order that she had to pay back the $367,903.90 was against her personally, whereas the property is owned by a trust, she said in court papers. A record of title to the property shows Colleen Warin as the legal owner, with a charging order between her and her mother to secure payment of $206,081.83.
Also in court papers, Colleen Warin said her father lacked the capacity to make decisions in the case and a relative, who holds an enduring power of attorney for her father, knew nothing about the sale order.
Colleen Warin tried to get the court to stop the sale, and stop advertising the sale, without notice to her parents.
But Justice Christine Grice said the parents should have a chance to be heard. No date has been set for that to happen.
Colleen Warin did not dispute the money was owed but did dispute when it had to be repaid. An associate judge found the loans were repayable on demand and were not repaid when a demand was made.
The Waiheke Island property, a twobedroom house on a large bush-clad lot, is already on the market privately and due to go to auction on December 13.
At least one previous attempt had been made to sell it.
Colleen Warin was approached for comment. Through her lawyer, she said she expected to have a sale agreement for the Waiheke property shortly and would be able to settle the loan for her mother.
‘‘She has always intended to settle this matter but the location of the property [in the bush] has meant that it has taken longer to sell than first envisaged,’’ the lawyer said.
An online crowdfunding page to raise up to $250,000 was set up in August, in the name of Marian Warin, to cover the costs and living expenses of herself and her husband. It has so far raised $17.
‘‘The affair has been to court and the accountant confessed but still won’t pay one cent back. Trevor fought for our freedoms [in World War II] and both Marian and Trevor need help,’’ the page says.
Stuff has spoken to family members with opposing views of the rights and wrongs of what has happened.
One raised questions about whether Marian Warin was, in fact, behind the crowdfunding effort, believing that the frail woman had been in Australia with one of her sons for two years, and was concerned about whether Marian was truly making the statements being attributed to her.
However, another family member was frustrated about the money situation and scornful of Colleen Warin’s explanation for the delay in repaying the debt.