New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Validation of unsigned wills

Legal area

Court

22 Oct 2019

STEWART v HARROLD [2019] NZHC 2706

Citation

[2019] NZHC 2706
Court

High Court

Because the parties consented and there was urgency due to a mortgaged property and insufficient estate funds, the Court appointed James Emmanuel Galt and Nancy Jean Burroughs jointly and severally as Administrators ad colligenda bona, limited to securing assets, selling property if required, paying estate debts, and holding any balance pending grant of probate, with their reasonable fees to be paid from the estate.
5 Oct 2015

AMUNDSON & ORS v RAOS [2015] NZHC 2422

Citation

[2015] NZAR 1772
Court

High Court

The 2014 unsigned draft will was a document that, on the cogent evidence presented (instructions to solicitor, contemporaneous notes, surrounding circumstances and absence of contradictory evidence), expressed the deceased's testamentary intentions and therefore met the s14 criteria; accordingly the Court declared the draft will valid and ordered probate and approval of the proposed settlement for minor beneficiaries.
3 Dec 2014

Re Greathead (deceased) [2014] NZHC 3068

Citation

[2014] NZHC 3068
Court

High Court

On the affidavits of the solicitor who prepared the will and the applicant daughter, the draft 2009 document clearly expressed Mr Greathead's testamentary intentions and he had intended to sign it but lost capacity; accordingly, under s14 of the Wills Act 2007 the Court declared the draft will to be the valid will of the deceased.