I'm posting this so that they are forever "famous" on the internet for google searches.
From stuff.
A couple who loaned money to their neighbours, believing they were their best friends, have been left destitute after the loan was not repaid and a lengthy legal battle only added to their debt.
Wilfried and Silvia Becker moved to New Zealand from Germany in 1996 with the dream of building a bed and breakfast business on a slice of secluded Northland paradise.
But the middle-aged couple are now living in a cramped and unfinished sleepout, after a year living in the garage, on the land meant for their dream home and business.
Once well-off, they are collecting payments from Work and Income after two strokes left Wilfried unable to work.
The Beckers said they believed Wilfried's strokes and Silvia's bouts of depression were brought on by the lengthy and stressful battle with their former neighbours.
The Beckers moved in across from Maurice and Carol Anderson in Whangarei in 1998 and the families became close friends.
The Beckers had money invested in New Zealand and Germany and later that year loaned the Andersons the first of three instalments, adding up to $280,000.
Silvia said Carol approached her pleading for help.
The Beckers felt compelled to lend their neighbours money to buy the house in Beaumont Court so the Andersons had somewhere to live, Silvia said.
"I said she is my best friend, I cannot let her down, we must help them."
Three agreements for the three instalments were drawn up and signed by the Beckers and Carol. Maurice Anderson did not sign as he was an undischarged bankrupt.
According to an August High Court decision by Justice Simon Moore, the Beckers believed the loan was solely for the purpose of buying the house across the road but the Andersons said there was no such tag and they were free to spend the money as they desired.
The Andersons bought a share in a motorscraper Maurice used for his work as an earthmover, a near-new BMW, a $25,000 caravan, and a second-hand boat. They renovated the house across from the Beckers, which they did eventually buy.
Carol always paid the interest on the loan but no more.
In 2004, six years after the first loan, the Beckers put pressure on the Andersons to repay the money and received $24,000, Silvia said.
However, the neighbours' relationship turned sour and when it looked unlikely they would get their money back the Beckers contacted lawyers.
The couple said they felt pressured to sign a Deed of Acknowledgment of Debt with Carol in 2005, which meant they were paid $80,000 immediately and the rest to be paid in a lump sum within the next five years, and interest paid monthly.
A year later Carol defaulted, then bankrupted herself, so the outstanding sum was never paid.
In the meantime, Maurice was discharged from bankruptcy and the Andersons set up a family trust, which they used to purchase the house across the road from the Beckers and two further properties in 2000.
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Four lawyers later and with more than $100,000 owing in legal fees the Beckers are no closer to getting a payout.
Justice Moore said he was not satisfied the money was loaned with the sole purpose of the Andersons to use it to buy the house.
"It may well be that the Beckers hoped, if not expected, the monies they advanced would be used by their friends to buy the house and in so doing, would remain as their neighbours. But a hope or expectation is very different to a requirement of the sort now claimed."
The Beckers said the Andersons groomed them as vulnerable people, new to the country, and then purposefully deceived them.
The Beckers' lawyer Michael Phillipps said the Andersons "exploited" the Beckers and the relationship was marked by "an imbalance of power".
Justice Moore said there was insufficient evidence to establish the Andersons exploited or manipulated the Beckers.
"If the Beckers, through kindness, generosity and sympathy elected to help their friends in times of financial hardship, that was their decision."
Silvia said they did not have the money to lodge an appeal and their lawyer told them they had little chance of success.
"We have been groomed, deceived, got false promises, emotionally blackmailed and defrauded."
Carol said she was "deeply sorry" about the whole ordeal and since the High Court decision they hoped to move on from what had been a "long and horrible time".
The battle with the Beckers had been eight years of "unrelenting strain", during which Carol developed a heart condition.
She struggled to make the loan repayments due to her condition and was bankrupted as a result.
"But the worst thing has been how all of this has affected a friendship that for years was very strong and close."
The Andersons and the Beckers had a "long and genuine friendship", Carol said, adding that neither she nor her husband ever sought to exploit the relationship.
"We shared so many good times, we went to church together, we spent Christmas together, we even looked after their house more than once when they went on holiday."
Carol said she paid what she could but she underestimated what was involved and was bankrupted as a result, forcing the Andersons to sell their family home as the Beckers had also been forced to do.
"I have made some terrible mistakes that the judge has described as naive and foolish but, as the court judgment also said, I never sought to be manipulative or dishonest," Carol said.
"The Beckers were extremely kind to make the three loans and it is to my eternal shame that this has all happened."