9 Jun 2022
Section 14 of the Wills Act 2007 extends to documents effecting changes to a will including codicils; on the evidence the three documents expressed the deceased's testamentary intentions and therefore the Court declared them valid testamentary documents.
6 Aug 2020
The Court found lack of testamentary capacity was a tenable issue given the deceased's advanced age, stage 5 renal failure, sensory impairments, repeated indecisive conduct over 2011–2013, unexplained and abrupt adverse changes in beneficiaries effected by the 2013 codicil, absence of contemporaneous medical or solicitor records showing enquiry into capacity, and poor professional record-keeping. Once lack of capacity was a tenable issue the onus shifted to the defendants to prove capacity on the balance of probabilities; they failed to discharge that onus. Accordingly the 2013 codicil was in…
8 Nov 2019
The codicil is invalid on its cumulative defects (unwitnessed, reference to a prior will and introducing an uncertain forfeiture term); the forfeiture condition in clause 7 is conceptually uncertain because terms like 'De Facto, civil union, gay or lesbian, life style' do not identify with sufficient precision the event that defeats the vested gift, and accordingly that condition is void; probate of the 6 July 2016 will is granted to the applicants and the application was properly dealt with without notice because all affected parties consented.
13 Mar 2015
Applying s 14 Wills Act 2007, the Court found the September 2009 document and the two subsequent instruments were intended as a will and codicils, were created in New Zealand and on the face of the documents and affidavit evidence expressed the deceased's testamentary intentions; accordingly the Court declared them to be the valid will and codicils despite non‑compliance with s 11.