burbschook

Ours is still with the original solicitor in Kent. Our executors are in Kent.
Now it's 5 years on & I think it's time to do an update.
No children to consider so it's just the pair of us.
We weren't offered or aware at the time of buying our house that a will service is generally available to coincide with the purchase.
Things have changed a lot for us & this is home through & through. The details of legacy are England based but we think it's time to change all that & make it New Zealand.
Can anyone give me some guidance on this please?

Oh, we do have a copy of the original btw.

scrubbedexpat094

Not sure I can give you any guidance. We are in a similar position & recent events in the UK has made us determined that OH's family are not going to get their mucky mits on anything of ours .

I have a friend who's a solicitor & she's going to do them for us. Ours will be fairly simple as 1) we haven't got a lot to leave & 2) we've no children.

Not sure who to have as executors here though (other than the solicitor herself).

I'm sure you are aware that your wills from the UK have no legal standing in NZ.

BEVS

We have been slack and certainly need to redo ours. Having a solicitor as an executor is a way to go IMO.

burbschook

Thank you both for the replies.
V - I think (someone might put me right on this) but british wills can have a type of nz codocil added to make them legal.
We'll be looking to have a complete rethink though. I'll ask at specific solicitors then. BTW, I also don't want the rellies getting their hands on it.

Bev - My concern with having a solicitor as an executor is the risk of finger dipping (oh their costs I mean) to administer the will. We won't be around to ensure fair play. I suppose I could haunt them remorselessly if it does happen though.

BEVS

I know what you mean. We also both have family issues and would prefer anything we do have to leave to go to good causes and also to people those have cared about us as we care for them. For that read - not immediate family or offspring thereof.

It's very hard to find someone with no vested interest and completely independent without there being substantial charges . My Dad used a solicitor when he made his will years ago, at my insistence but that chap had retired when it came to administering my Dad's will so another solicitor was executor . I'll take back what I wrote about using a solicitor as executor though as that;s not ideal either I can say from personal experience. The probate officer at the UK solicitor office did most of the work ref my Dad's will but I came to realise ,later on , that she knew of my sister through other connections mutual acquaintances . It went a long way to explain a feeling of 'attitude' I got at the time and was not good, I can tell you.

NakiMan

You should look into the will drafting service offered by the Public Trust.

http://www.publictrust.co.nz/life-ev...is-a-will.html

They will draw up your will free of charge in return for being appointed executor when the last survivor dies. We found them very efficient and helpful.

burbschook

Yes I'm aware of Public Trust & wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Sorry & thank you for your offering of info but they are just the type I wouldn't want administering my estate. They are quite expensive.

Yes Bev - apart from a share in the estate to an executor/s of our choosing, the rest is to go to charitable trusts. At the mo that is in England but we want it to be our home which is NZ.

NakiMan

Fair enough, it was just a suggestion that I thought might be helpful.

Is it just that their fees are expensive or do you know something else about them that I should be aware of?

JAJ

Most jurisdictions will accept out of jurisdiction wills for probate, even if the process is more complex than with a local will.

So do you know for sure that New Zealand refuses to probate non-NZ wills, and if that's the case, a reference would be helpful.

In general, if you are living in NZ you want to have a New Zealand will (whole variety of reasons), but that is not the same as stating that a foreign will is invalid.

shirl

But Solicitors charged loads and loads for acting in this way once you have departed this world and it eats in to what you have left!

Opps I see you have retracted some of that Bevs. I used to work for a lawyer here in NZ. Wills are part of the purchase process as someone said and Wills are often very cheap if not free to draw up for a straightforward one. It is when you get family trusts and complicated share holdings and such like that it becomes expensive. In the UK they used to have Free Will week, wonder if they still have that. We did ours here when we bought, just makes everything simple and if you have no kids to be executor think maybe of a dear old friend or colleague.

sparkie down under

personally I'd rather give some money grabbing relli the cash than a solictor - or better still sell the f'ing lot long before I pop the clogs and have a good time with the money whilst I still can.

julesnye

I technically got no assets, so therefore no will or issues

Kija

I've never written a will

If everything I own is back in Egypt, would a will drawn here be valid for the stuff there?

scrubbedexpat094

Ooooo now I'm questioning myself . I'm sure that's what my friend (solicitor) told me but it was a couple of years back now, so I do apologise if I've got it wrong . I'm seeing her next week so I will check with her then.

I hope I have got it right because we really need to change our wills pronto if our UK ones could be used .

nero

Hi Vitalstatistix - I believe you are correct in your thoughts re wills, especially if you have property here in NZ and have transferred your pensions. I know we eneded up getting our wills rewritten last year, but then so much had changed for us from our previous will, so our UK will bore no resemblance to reality. Plus just having had a brush with cancer it was quite reassuring to know everything was settled. Plus we also had a Enduring Power of Attorney written for each other as we did not want our families deciding how we are cared for in the future, as there views and mine are not in alignment