Safe-keeping

Re Estate Walters, which is an application for the validation of a draft will under the Wills Act 2007 highlights the importance of wills be safely stored following execution. In Re Estate Walters the deceased who lived in America but spent up to six months of each year in New Zealand where he owned property, made a new will in 2009. Some years later the deceased’s home was burgled and the estate planning folder containing his will was taken.

The deceased and his wife made new wills shortly after the burglary in 2017 and again they were given the original wills, as it was not their attorney’s practice to retain original wills.

The court declared that the the draft of the 2017 will was the deceased’s valid will.

References

• Re Estate Walters [2024] NZHC 1487
• Wills Act 2007, s 14