The Richmond woman claimed she had cohabited with her boyfriend for more than two years, but the judge disagreed, ordering her to pay back the $350,000 estate, plus $50,000 for “misconduct.” , control and squandering of estate property”. ‘ that was ‘malicious and depressing’.
Postmedia News is not including the 47-year-old man’s name to protect the identities of his children, aged nine and 11 at the time of his death. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
The BC Supreme Court has ordered a Richmond woman to pay $400,000 in damages to her dead boyfriend’s estate after ruling that she took advantage of his precarious circumstances and spent money he intended to abandon his children.
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Diana Warriner’s boyfriend died of a fentanyl overdose in October 2018 without writing a will.
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Postmedia News is not including the 47-year-old man’s name to protect the identities of his children, aged nine and 11 at the time of his death.
Warriner attempted to seize control of his estate, facing the court of the friend’s children and their mother, who is her friend’s ex-wife and the executor of his estate.
Warriner claimed she had cohabited with her boyfriend for more than two years, which would qualify her as his wife under the provincial law on wills, estates and succession at the time of his death.
She also claimed that a few days before his death, her boyfriend sent her $350,000 to pay her for years of work to support the family.
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But the friend’s former spouse argued that Warriner should hold that money in trust for the children’s benefit and that their relationship was non-marital until a few months before his death.
She also claimed Warriner was “inappropriate influence” over her boyfriend, who was struggling over his drug use.
BC Supreme Court Justice Janet Winteringham found that Warriner’s claims about her relationship with her boyfriend and his money transfer to her were contradictory.
Warriner’s boyfriend and ex-wife separated in 2015. He stayed at her family home in Surrey while she moved out.
Warriner claimed she had lived with her boyfriend in that family home for more than two years, but the judge concluded they had not lived together in a marriage-like relationship for more than two years.
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“MS. Warriner’s evidence on the day she moved into the (family home) was ambiguous and inconsistent with the body of evidence presented, including documentary records,” she wrote.
Winteringham noted that although there was a dental claim form from the friend in 2016 showing Warriner had moved in with him in April 2015, Warriner had completed the form. She also noted that Warriner continued to use her Richmond address for her driver’s license, car insurance, and Canadian IRS filings.
The friend’s children, who were 13 and 15 when they testified in court about their relationship with their father, also supported the fact that Warriner had not lived with him two years before his death.
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There was testimony from the friend’s sister and niece in support of Warriner’s claim, but the judge rejected it because their schedules were unreliable.
Winteringham wrote that Warriner claimed to have “a very active integrated life with the kids…and all their activities,” but they testified that she only attended some of their games.
In summary, the judge said she agreed with the attorney’s observation under cross-examination that Warriner really didn’t know the friend very well.
“Remarkably, she seemed unfamiliar with the severity of his medical problems,” Winteringham wrote. “I came to the conclusion that she came up with a story and added certain features to it where needed.”
She wrote that Warriner admitted she spent the entire $350,000, not counting the children.
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She ruled that Warriner must repay the estate the $350,000 plus $50,000 in punitive damages for “misconduct, control and squandering of an estate’s assets” that was “malicious and suppressive.”
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