Wills
A will means the people you love aren't left guessing, or fighting, about what you wanted.
It's also one of the simplest, most affordable pieces of legal insurance you can buy — and one of the easiest things to keep putting off.
What actually makes a will valid?
In writing, and signed by you.
Witnessed by two people, both present with you at the same time you sign — and neither of them can be a beneficiary. If a witness is also named as a beneficiary, they usually lose that gift.
You need "testamentary capacity" at the time you sign:
understanding that you're making a will,
roughly what you own, and
who has a moral claim on your estate.
Marriage, Divorce and your will.
Getting married or entering a civil union automatically revokes any existing will, unless it was made specifically with that marriage in mind.
Divorce works differently — it doesn't cancel the whole will, but treats your ex as though they'd died before you, so any gift or appointment naming them simply drops out. Either way, a wedding or a split is a good moment to make a new will, not assume the old one still works the way you think it does.
If you don’t have a will
Dying without a will ("intestate") doesn't mean chaos — it means a fixed formula in the Administration Act 1969 decides for you, with no room for family agreement or your own wishes:
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The partner gets everything.
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Your partner gets your personal belongings, the first $155,000, and a third of what's left.
Your children share the rest. (That $155,000 amount can change – I will check that carefully if we ever need to apply it.)
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Your children get everything.
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The estate can pass to parents, siblings, or more distant relatives — and if truly nobody can be found, to the Government.
Even then, there's sometimes more room to make a case than people expect, if you had a real connection to the person.
The part that catches people out:
Only biological or legally adopted children count. Stepchildren get nothing under intestacy, however close you are, unless you've:
formally adopted them, or
written a will that says otherwise, or
they make a Family Protection Act claim that you had a moral duty to them, but this is up to them to prove.
To understand the full picture you'll need to take a look at the Adminstration Act. Click the link below to the appropriate section.
Blended families and guardianship
If you have stepchildren, a second relationship, or children from more than one relationship, a will is where you actually decide who's provided for — intestacy won't do it for you.
It's also where you nominate a guardian for children under 18, so if the worst happens to both parents, it's your choice who steps in, not a court's.
Keeping it current
A will isn't a one-and-done job. Marriage, separation, a new baby, or a big change in what you own are all good reasons to look at it again.
I'd rather help you make a small update now than leave your family to sort out a mess later.
Burial or cremation
We can also add (if you would like to leave instructions about what it to happens to your body) burial, cremation, or anything else specific. You don't have to decide this, and it's not needed for the will to be valid — but saying it somewhere can spare your family a hard decision at an already hard time.
The first meeting
Initial consultations are charged at my usual hourly rate. This applies to all matters, including wills. I don't reduce or waive the first-meeting fee for will appointments — but I also don't, as a rule, appoint myself as executor, which means your executor is free to use their own lawyer when the time comes and won't be locked in to working with me.
What to bring to your first meeting
The more of this you can bring, the faster — and cheaper — this goes:
- Your full name, and full names of the key people involved (executors, guardians, beneficiaries)
- Contact details for anyone you're thinking of naming — as an executor, a guardian for children under 18, or anything else
- Full name, address, and occupation for anyone you want to leave something to
- A rough idea of what you own — house, savings, KiwiSaver, life insurance, shares, vehicles, business interests. Ballpark figures are fine; you don't need exact numbers.
- Anything important I'd need to know where to find — life insurance policies, your KiwiSaver provider, which bank you're with, that sort of thing. It's often the "nobody knew where to look" details that cause the most stress for whoever's left sorting things out.
Where is your will kept?
Once your will is signed, you can choose to take the original home, or I can store it for you in my filing cabinets.
If you leave it with me, it's safe from everyday loss or misfiling — but my storage isn't fireproof.
If fire protection matters to you, a bank safe deposit box is worth considering. Either way, I'll keep a digital copy, which can be certified and produced if the original is ever lost.
Let’s work together.
Please contact me, Lenny, if you would like to make an appointment or to discuss any of the information on this page.