Wishes are not promises

As noted at [43] in Firmin v Porter “… the Testamentary Promises Act has no counterpart elsewhere in the world.” The provisions of that act are summarised at [44] in the following terms:

“In summary, s 3 provides that whether or not a claim could have been made during a deceased person’s lifetime, their estate may be liable to remunerate an applicant for work performed or services rendered to the deceased pursuant to a promise to make testamentary provision for them.”

The crux of the relevant considerations are set out by McHerron J at [99] to [103] in the following terms:

References:

• Firmin v Porter [2025] NZHC 3668
• Bill Patterson Law of Family Protection and Testamentary Promises (5th ed, LexisNexis, Wellington, 2021) at [13.1]