What if there’s no will?
A Public Trust survey in 2012 found that about 12% of people aged 55 and over don’t have a will.
If you die without a will, and have a partner and children, the first $155,000 of assets and chattels goes to the partner. The partner then gets a third of what’s left, and the children two-thirds.
If there are no children, but surviving parents, the partner gets twothirds of the balance and the parents a third.
from the first marriage. It’s so common.”
It’s also not uncommon that the second wife is little older than the children of the first, and if she is bequeathed a life interest in the whole estate, including, say, an investment portfolio, there can be issues with how the investments are made. “She probably wants more cash than capital growth, so life interests are very messy in these situations.”
There’s no magic solution, Moses says, but family trusts do give more flexibility around succession planning because the assets in them aren’t subject to the FPA.
“ASKING FOR TROUBLE”
One of the biggest problems, says Wellington inheritance-law specialist Greg Kelly, is that about 20 different statutes deal with aspects of succession law. Kelly, who wrote a master’s thesis on the subject in 2010, says different laws being introduced at different times have made for an ad-hoc approach and “a tide of litigation”.
Kelly wants recognition or moral-duty awards removed and says there is no consensus in New Zealand that a will-maker is obliged to provide for adult children. He believes claims should be limited to children under 21 who need support.
He told the Listener he was sure many adults would feel miffed if they had no claim on their parents’ will.
“But if your parent cuts you out of the will – and there is usually a reason for it – I don’t see how forcing the others [beneficiaries] to make a payment remedies that.
“If you bring your kids up, educate them, give them every opportunity, you’ve already