Texts, emails that won PA’s inheritance claim

Texts between a female Aussie bodybuilder and a famous European actor on the night of his death proved the pair were in a de facto relationship despite their 30 year age gap, a court has heard.

This week, personal assistant Zhenya Vernon appeared in the NSW Supreme Court in her bid for a portion of the estate of her former boss, Italian-born actor Daniele Legler.

Mr Legler, who featured in 30 European movies and TV shows throughout his acting career, died in April 2022 at age 72, leaving behind a multimillion-dollar estate in property across NSW, Portugal, Lichtenstein and Malta.

The actor’s father Fredy was also a “pioneer in textiles” and accumulated “considerable wealth” before establishing the ‘Legler Foundation’.

His estate was left to his five children.

But Ms Vernon, who was born in Russia but is an Australian citizen, claims she was not only an assistant to Mr Legler, but also a de factor spouse, in a bid for a portion of his inheritance.

The woman, in her early 40s, was previously a bodybuilder and was “wholly dependent financially” on Mr Legler, the court heard.

Ms Vernon put to the court several emails and text messages between her and Mr Legler, as well as her and Mr Legler’s children, to prove the pair were a de facto couple.

In his final decision, Justice Ian Pike ruled that while Ms Vernon was an “unsatisfactory and unreliable witness” who appeared to be “motivated by self-interest and financial gain” she did meet the criteria of a de facto and was therefore entitled to claim a portion of his estate.

One of the major reasons for the decision was texts between Ms Vernon and Mr Legler on the night of his death.

On April 22, 2022. Mr Legler sent Ms Vernon a message stating: “Wouldn’t mind having You in my pool….”.

He continued the flirtatious text exchange with an offer to take her “romantically” to La Biennale di Venezia, a cultural exhibition in the Italian city.

“I want to go to the desrt (sic) with you and I want to go in a boat with you. This year. And to Venice. And to Russia and Ukraine? I want to go with you,” he wrote.

Mr Legler then died of a heart attack at about 3am on April 23, at one of his residences in Lagos, Portugal.

Despite Ms Vernon having not seen Mr Legler since January 2022, Justice Pike ruled the pair’s communication in the months leading up to his death – which included text/WhatsApp messages, telephone and video calls – were “suggestive of a future life together”.

“The two persons need not live together full time in order to be considered to be ‘living together’,” Justice Pike said in his decision.

He also said the fact that Ms Vernon travelled from Melbourne to Portugal immediately upon learning of his death suggested a relationship still existed between the pair.

“If the relationship had come to an end, or was no longer of any real significance, it is unlikely that she would have done this.”

The court also saw emails from Ms Vernon where she spoke about her relationship with Mr Legler and his adult children.

At one point in 2020, Ms Vernon sent an email to his son Janis telling him she had “finished the relationships (sic) with your father”.

“So don’t worry about anything as I am f**king off,” she wrote.

The next day she then wrote an email apologising for her language.

“Janis, I apologise for the disturbed messages I sent you yesterday. I had too many drinks at lunch yesterday and was not able to keep emotions down,” she wrote.

“Hope for understanding and will not happen again. Zhenya.”

Justice Pike also ruled for an independent person to act as administrator of the will going forward. The matter is set to be relisted for a short hearing in July to hear the claim for costs.

After the death

The oldest of Mr Legler’s children, Nadja, 31, told the court that while the pair’s relationship may have gone beyond that of a personal assistant to a “sexual relationship” she did not believe they were together.

“She took the view that what Zhenya was doing in these proceedings was seeking to cheat her and her siblings out of their rightful inheritance, although she appeared to not quite understand the term ‘cheat out’,” the court decision states.

The court also heard how on the day after Mr Legler’s death, Ms Vernon withdrew $35,000 from his personal Westpac bank account which she had access to, before withdrawing another $22,300 three days later.

She also withdrew a total of €63,000 ($102,076 AUD) from their joint bank account shortly after his death.

The court heard that on the day after Mr Legler’s death, Ms Vernon wrote to an “on-and-off boyfriend”: “By the way the Swiss has died this Friday.”

Mr Legler was born in Italy, however grew up in Switzerland.

Ms Vernon, who has since legally changed her last name to Legler “in memory of Dany”, told the court the pair went from a “professional relationship” to a “personal relationship” in 2018 and were living together at his home in Portugal.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she remains in Melbourne, where she continues to work as a visa consultant.