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Probate, wills, estate administration, reseal grants, transmission to executors

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Land-registration fees to jump from $90 to $124 – act now to avoid the increase!!

Land-registration fees are increasing in early 2025

Act now to avoid the early-2025 increase. Transmission by survivorship? – do it now! Transmission to executor or estate administrator? – do it now! Put the land into the names of the beneficiaries? – find out more…. Repaid the mortgage but it’s still on the title? – get it discharged now!

It will cost $124 (instead of the current $90), to register a transmission by survivorship, transmission to executor/s or administrator/s, mortgage discharge, or transfer (to beneficiaries or to third party).

Those are the different transactions needed when someone dies and they own a house, flat, or other real estate.

The exact date of the increase is not yet known. It will be early 2025.

There’s more info on the Land Information New Zealand website here: https://www.linz.govt.nz/products-services/landonline/landonline-fees-and-charges

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High Court filing fee for probate jumps from $200 to $260 – on 1 July 2024 – pay now and avoid the increase!

After 30 June, the court fee to apply for probate or letters of administration will be $260. However (as clarified on 13 June), if you pay online before 1 July, you don’t have to pay any extra if your documents aren’t sent to the court until later.

Currently it’s $200.

This change has just been announced.

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When their heart stopped, so did their EPA (enduring power of attorney).

Yes, they trusted you, they appointed you as their attorney, to manage their property, their money, their bank accounts.

However, that has now stopped. You cannot lawfully continue to operate their bank account or make other decisions about their property.

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What’s going on with the Treaty? And this Maori stuff?

I want to set the record straight, as a pākehā lawyer who is passionately committed to upholding the rule of law and who does not have the time actively to learn te reo Māori or study the details of what went wrong in the past.

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ChatGPT – don’t trust it (yet) – its legal analysis is wrong

Curiosity – and opportunity – combined. I decided to try ChatGPT.

I asked, ‘Explain who will inherit in New Zealand if someone dies without a will, with a surviving spouse, and with 3 children, and if they leave more than $500,000 in property.’

See below – screenshot of the answers.

Spoiler alert – Kiwilaw does it better, using human brains.

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Was the deceased a Maori? If they owned general land, that question becomes important.

If someone dies and leaves an interest in general land (a house, unit, section, farm, or other land that is not Maori freehold land), probate or letters of administration are usually required, followed by a transmission to executor/administrator/s and a transfer.

However, if your loved one was Maori, you may be able to avoid that expense.

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Kiwilaw does NOT prepare enduring EPAs (enduring powers of attorney) – how come?

I am often asked whether I prepare EPAs (sometimes abbreviated to EPOAs) – enduring powers of attorney. That is the type of ‘power of attorney’ that endures after you lose mental capacity.

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So you were not living under the same roof when your de facto partner died? Can you still inherit?

Under New Zealand law, if an unmarried de facto partner dies without leaving a valid will, their surviving partner inherits their ‘personal chattels’ and the first $155,000 of what else they left. (Children and parents get a share of anything above $155,000. If the de facto partner was also still married to someone else, the surviving spouse and the surviving de facto partner share that $155,000 plus the over-$155,000 entitlement.)

Are you still the ‘surviving partner’ if you were living apart?

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If there’s no will, no lawyer ‘acts for the estate’ until letters of administration are granted

Banks and law firms create unnecessary issues and confusion by insisting that a lawyer can act for an intestate estate (where there is no will) before letters of administration are granted. This is wrong in law and wrong in practice.

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How to sign your land documents under COVID lockdown

It’s all a little confusing! If you do not have access to a printer, can documents be signed electronically (on a screen, rather than on paper)? If they need to be witnessed, and you are in lockdown, who does it, and how? What if you are in lockdown outside New Zealand?

Statutory declarations cannot be signed electronically, but may be witnessed by audio or video link while being signed on paper.

A&I forms can be signed electronically and must be witnessed in person or by video or audio link. A&I forms require certification of identity, which may require verification software if it has not previously been done in person.

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