"Pure Greed" Melbourne Psychologist Kris Schroder Convicted for Perjury, Creating Fake Will

November 14, 2022

A Victorian psychologist who tried to steal millions of dollars from her dead partner's family was motivated by pure greed, a court has been told.

Kris Schroder, 61, faced the County Court in Melbourne on Friday after she was found guilty of eight offences by a jury, including attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception, attempting to pervert the course of justice, and perjury.

She had tried to inherit her dying partner's $2.25 million estate by creating a fake will to exclude all other family members as beneficiaries.

Marie Hart died from an aggressive brain cancer in February 2016 and in her will she left one third of her estate to Schroder, one third to her nephew and the final third to her niece.

About two months after her death, Schroder travelled to Thailand where she told two friends she had created another fake will for Ms. Hart, dated April 2014, which left everything to her.

Kenneth Ewington and Warren Rogan, Ms. Schroder's friends of 40 years, were then told she had forged their signatures onto the false will.

Schroder later asked them to sign false affidavits in support of her application for probate in the Supreme Court.

She also offered to pay Ms. Hart's niece and nephew $200,000 to drop legal action against the will.

Prosecutor David O'Doherty told a pre-sentence hearing on Friday Ms. Schroder was motivated by pure greed.

"Ms. Schroder was appreciative of the fact that the will, the only will, left one third of Ms. Hart's estate to her and one third each to her nephew and niece," he said.

"She was most unhappy about that and set about a course of conduct which enabled her to defeat that will, and defeat the entitlement of [Ms. Hart's] nephew and niece to their share of the estate."

He called for Judge Claire Quin to hand Schroder a prison sentence with a non-parole period due to the seriousness of the offending, her motivation and pre-meditation.

Schroder's barrister Simon Kenny said his client did not want to be handed a term of imprisonment.

He argued she would face hardship in custody due to her chronic medical conditions and severe depression.

"It's acknowledged that a sentence of imprisonment must be on the cards, but it's asked not to go that far," he said.

In July, the jury found Schroder not guilty of one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice contrary to common law.

That offence was an allegation she told Mr. Ewington and Mr. Rogan to attest to the truth of their affidavits after becoming aware police wanted to interview the couple.

Judge Quin remanded Schroder in custody until she delivers her sentence at the end of November.

Source: Emily Woods "Vic psychologist motivated by pure greed," AAP (as published in The West Australian), Nov. 11, 2022, URL: