According to the law, without a will, a spouse receives the personal effects such as furniture, paintings, homeware, the first $155,000 worth of assets (with interest from the date of death) and a third of anything left.
Children will receive the remaining two-thirds, divided equally between them.
“Another issue that crops up is a blended family,” Stevenson said.
One example was a man who died in New Zealand in the 1960s and left the income from his estate to his wife, who ended up living to over 100.
“Once the wife had died, which was the best part of 50 years later, the estate was to pass to all of his siblings,” Stevenson said.
“There were about ten of them [siblings] and they’d all died too, in various countries.
“If they didn’t have a will, who then gets their share in Germany? It just keeps branching out.”
Whanganui's Public Trust office can be found on Victoria Avenue. Photo / Bevan Conley
Public Trust chief executive Glenys Talivai said the Whanganui customer centre played a vital role in supporting people in the community to complete these documents, especially those who were most vulnerable.
Currently, around 50 per cent of New Zealanders have a will, and Public Trust is trying to grow that to 70 per cent.
“Wills help ensure the things that matter most to you go to the people that matter, and EPAs [enduring power of attorney] let you nominate someone to make decisions on your behalf when you’re unable to,” she said.
“These two documents form a key part of planning for the future.”
Customer centres like Whanganui provided unique face-to-face support and advice, she said.
“Our trustees can be an empathetic and compassionate ear when our customers are dealing with individual or unique circumstances.
“Trustees build up relationships with families, with individuals, that can carry on through generations. These relationships are so important.”
There are two kinds of EPAs - ‘property’ (financial) and ‘personal care and welfare’.
“You might decide its best to not have family involved in your finances, and you look for someone outside for that independence,” Stevenson said.
He said the court would appoint a manager and welfare guardian if there was no EPA in place.
“That takes time and costs a lot more money, and you don’t necessarily know who that manager is going to be.
“You might get a scenario where two or three people are all saying, ‘It shouldn’t be you, you’re not trustworthy, it should be me’, and obviously it’s up to the court to decide who’s best.
“There are times when the court says they don’t like any of it and go to a trustee organisation instead.”
It was “pretty painless” to write a will, and it could be updated as circumstances changed, Stevenson said.
One way was to go online and do it yourself.
“That suits the less complex scenarios, but it’s certainly a much cheaper option,” he said.
“If things are a little more involved, then obviously you meet with the likes of myself or a lawyer or another trust company.
“You can also buy an ‘off-the-rack’ will kit from the bookshop. Again, that might be fine if things are straightforward.”
Stevenson said people often thought they had nothing to leave behind so there was no point in sorting anything out.
“Okay, so your will might not deal with assets and liabilities so much, but you can leave your treasures to whoever you want.
“A lot of people think they have nothing, yet they have KiwiSaver sitting there - something they might not have given a lot of conscious thought to.”
