It was the 13th episode of The Simpsons' 10th season when Homer changed his name to Max Power. He took the name from a hair dryer.

Former Melbourne lawyer Anthony Coleman liked the name so much he used it to dupe the State Revenue Office into believing he was Max Power to get the first home owners' grant.

Coleman, 47, a twice-divorced father of four from Yarraville, who also used the name Patrick Bateman - the serial killer in the book American Psycho - to get the grant, appeared in the Supreme Court on Wednesday to plead guilty to 14 charges of theft, obtaining property by deception and obtaining a financial advantage by deception from February 2003 to July 2007.

Prosecutor Susan Borg told the court Coleman became a lawyer in 1998 and had later set up his own firm, Coleman Lawyers, when a neighbour brought in a friend, Eric Smith, to have his will drawn up.

Mr Smith, who had no family or friends, wanted his neighbour to receive $40,000 and five charities, including the Salvation Army, to be beneficiaries from the rest of his estate which included a two-bedroom unit in Brunswick West and $80,000 in cash.