What if there's no Will?

In New Zealand most estates of any size are administered under the terms of the person’s Will.


Sometimes, however, the deceased hasn’t made a Will. In that case the person is said to have died intestate, and the law steps in to say who is entitled to share the estate. These rules also apply where the deceased attempted to make a Will but it wasn’t completed correctly – unless the High Court is willing to validate the Will under the Wills Act 2007.


Who gets what?


Section 77 of the Administration Act 1969 sets out who is entitled to benefit if a person dies without a valid Will. If there is a Will, but it only deals with part of the estate, then s77 will apply to the part of the estate not covered by the Will.


The various situations are covered in the table below.

Person or people intestate leaves How estate to be distributed
Husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner, but no issue and no parents Personal chattels (as defined in section 2(1)):
the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner takes these absolutely, except that any that are subject to a hire purchase agreement, are taken subject to the vendor's rights under that agreement
  Residue of the estate:
  this stands charged with the payment to the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner of the prescribed amount, plus interest (at the rate prescribed by or under section 39) on that amount from the date of the death until that amount is paid or appropriated
  anything that remains of the residue is held in trust for the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner absolutely
Husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner, and issue Personal chattels (as defined in section 2(1)):
the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner takes these absolutely, except that any that are subject to a hire purchase agreement, are taken subject to the vendor's rights under that agreement
  Residue of the estate:
  this stands charged with the payment to the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner of the prescribed amount, plus interest (at the rate prescribed by or under section 39) on that amount from the date of the death until that amount is paid or appropriated
  anything that remains of the residue is held in trust as follows:
    a third for the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner absolutely; and
    two-thirds on the statutory trusts for the issue of the intestate
Husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner, no issue, but one or both parents Personal chattels (as defined in section 2(1)):
the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner takes these absolutely, except that any that are subject to a hire purchase agreement, are taken subject to the vendor's rights under that agreement
  Residue of the estate:
  this stands charged with the payment to the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner of the prescribed amount, plus interest (at the rate prescribed by or under section 39) on that amount from the date of the death until that amount is paid or appropriated
  anything that remains of the residue is held in trust as follows:
    two-thirds for the husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner absolutely; and
    a third for the father and mother in equal shares absolutely or, if the intestate leaves only one parent, for that parent absolutely
Issue but no husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner All of the estate is held on the statutory trusts for the issue of the intestate
No husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner, and no issue, but one or both parents All of the estate is held in trust in equal shares for the parents, but if the intestate leaves only one parent, for that parent
No husband, wife, civil union partner, or surviving de facto partner, no issue, and no parents, but 1 or more brothers or sisters (whether of full or half blood) All of the estate is held on the statutory trusts for the 1 or more brothers or sisters
No one who takes an absolutely vested interest under the trusts referred to in items 1 to 6, but one or both maternal or paternal grandparents, or 1 or more maternal or paternal uncles or aunts (whether of full or half blood) All of the estate is held in trust as follows:
as to half:
in equal shares for the maternal grandparents, but if the intestate leaves only one such grandparent, for that grandparent; or
if the intestate leaves no maternal grandparent, then on the statutory trusts for the maternal uncles and aunts; or
if no maternal grandparent or maternal uncle or aunt takes an absolutely vested interest under those trusts, then on the trusts on which the other half of the estate must be held
  as to the other half:
  in equal shares for the paternal grandparents, but if the intestate leaves only one such grandparent, for that grandparent; or
  if the intestate leaves no paternal grandparent, then on the statutory trusts for the paternal uncles and aunts; or
  if no paternal grandparent or paternal uncle or aunt takes an absolutely vested interest under those trusts, then on the trusts on which the first half of the estate must be held
No one who takes an absolute interest under items 1 to 7 All of the estate belongs to the Crown as bona vacantia, and the Crown may (without prejudice to any other powers), out of all or any part of the estate, provide for
  dependants (whether kindred or not) of the intestate; and
  other persons for whom the intestate might reasonably have been expected to make provision.


What the family should think about


If it’s likely that there is no Will, the family need to think about several possibilities:

  • Is it possible to deal with the estate without letters of administration from the High Court? There’s more on this in the section on ‘Small estates’.
  • If formal administration documents are required, who should apply to be appointed administrator/s?
  • Get a form of consent signed by the other beneficiaries, that is, the people listed in the table above.
  • Collect together all the birth, death and marriage certificates and other family history documents so that you can work out who is entitled to the estate.
  • Check with any lawyers who might hold a Will or who might have information relating to the estate or the family.
  • Don’t throw out ANY documents until you’re sure the estate lawyer won’t need them.


If there are no close relatives and the estate is likely to be distributed among a wide number of family members, there may be a problem locating some of these people or even knowing if they are still alive. In some cases the administrators may need to reach agreement with the known beneficiaries
to make a distribution with a promise that if anyone else ever turns up the beneficiaries will pay back what’s necessary to give these people their share.  This is usually referred to as an indemnity.


Letters of Administration


As well as working out who will be entitled to benefit from an intestate estate, a decision also needs to be made about who will administer the estate.  The High Court must approve the appointment of administrators and give them a document called Letters of Administration on Intestacy. There is an order of priority for who may apply for these Letters of Administration. Basically this is the person or people who will receive most of the estate under the table on the previous pages. However, other people can be appointed administrators with the consent of the beneficiaries.


You or the estate lawyer will need to obtain specific information to enable an Application for Letters of Administration to be completed. This includes:

  • Establishing that there’s definitely no Will in existence including:
    • Writing to any previous lawyers and banks the deceased was associated with
    • Writing to the major trust companies: Public Trust, NZ Guardian Trust, Trustees Executors and Perpetual Trust
    • Advertising in a New Zealand Law Society newsletter
    • Asking the family to search all papers and files of the deceased.
  • Finding out if there is a spouse, civil union and/or de facto partner, whether there was a divorce or separation order in existence at the time of death and, if so, obtain a copy of that divorce or separation order.  If a surviving spouse, de facto partner or civil union partner applies for
    Letters of Administration, then consideration will need to be given to election under the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 (see the ‘Claims against an estate’ section).
  • Obtaining full details of all children of the deceased (including a child who pre-deceased the deceased and who may have left any children). It’s also necessary to go through all papers left behind by the deceased to search for reference to any other children, and to check with any lawyer who was
    known to act for the deceased.
  • Instigating a search of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Register to verify whether there are any other children of the deceased. A certificate needs to be obtained: there’s a fee for this.
  • Ascertaining full details of the assets and liabilities of the estate.
  • After you or the estate’s lawyer has established whether Letters of Administration are required, and who is to apply for them, then the application documentation will be almost complete.


There will also need to be an affidavit by the person applying for administration.  This affidavit will include the information established above, together with other information as required by the High Court Rules.


The documents are then filed in the High Court. Once the High Court approves the Grant of Administration, a sealed order is released by the High Court. This can take up to six weeks. Once the order is granted, the Administrator can then proceed with administering the estate.


If there’s no executor but there is a Will


Where there’s no executor, the court will appoint an administrator to carry out the requirements of the Will. This is called ‘Letters of Administration with Will Annexed’.


This procedure is used where a person dies leaving a valid Will but the Will doesn’t name an executor, or the executor has died or, for whatever reason, can’t or won’t apply for probate.

 
Please contact Tina McLennan or Jo McLennan for more information.