The Ontario Abandoned $6 Million Doctor’s Mansion

This property was once owned by Doctor Frank Van Bork. Frank and his wife Elisa came to Canada from Holland during the 1950’s. They settled down in Southern Ontario and started a family of three children.

Frank ran a successful business that sold specialty lighting. His wife, Elisa, assisted him with the business which operated from the basement of the house.

Frank allegedly controlled the family finances and made all the financial decisions. By 1984,  Elisa had enough of the thirty-one year marriage and sought legal counsel for a divorce. Elisa had sought prior legal advice but the previous lawyer allowed those proceedings to come to a halt. At this time Elisa was receiving $2,250 per month but Frank was not permitting her access to assets that were in her own name. Frank’s attitude was that anything that had his wife’s signature on it, was being held in trust for himself.

Despite Elisa’s working for the couple’s business,  declaring half the business income on her taxes, Frank refused to share any of the income from the lighting business with her.

Frank changed the locks on a recreational property that Elisa owned. When she attempted to gain access to the unoccupied property, he phoned the police claiming that a break and enter had taken place. The police spoke with Elisa but the investigation stopped when they learned that it was Elisa who owned the property and had made entry.

When the court ordered him to produce his tax returns so that Elisa could establish his assets, he submitted blank tax returns with only his name and signature. The case took six years (and fifteen court orders) to proceed to trial, with Frank attempting to stall the proceedings as long as possible.

Frank was trying to force Elisa to drop the proceedings by drawing out the process in an effort to cost her as much money as possible. Elisa’s lawyer continued to work the case even when Elisa was no longer financially able to pay for legal services.

In November of 1992 the case was heard in court. The judge felt that Frank’s assets were worth at least $2 million at the initial time of separation and by the time of the trial, at least $4 million. The judge ordered Elisa to receive $1.8 million and a monthly support payment of $3,500 for life. Frank was also ordered to pay just over $400,000 for Elisa’s legal costs.

I believe that the wife took ownership of the mansion and the ex-husband took ownership of the recreational property.

The wife passed away in 2015 and the large estate was put up for sale.

The house has six bedrooms and six bathrooms. It features a spacious back yard and in-ground swimming pool. From the ‘before’ photos you can see that this was a house to be proud of.

The property was listed in 2018 for sale at just over $6 and a half million dollars. You can write the rest of the story. It was bought by a property developer for $4.8 million.

Natural decay has begun to set in. The floors are buckling in places and the ceiling has begun to fall apart as humidity builds. Some of the lighting has been stripped out.

You can see photos from when the house was occupied and had warmth. 

The asking price of the house was $6 million, it sold for close to $5 million and my video erroneously says $4,000,000. So if you’re confused as to the property’s worth, I don’t blame you. 🙂

Research by TWP.
Source: Fairly Equal: Lawyering the Feminist Revolution By Linda Silver Dranoff

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