The Disclosure of Will Administration and Fees

How would you feel if your estate, that you intended to be left to your loved ones, would end up in the hands of lawyers or trust companies?  Or if you were the beneficiary and you ended up having to pay fees over and above the amount which you were meant to receive?  This is morally and ethically wrong.  This could be a large sum of money that we are talking about, not just a few dollars but possibly in the hundreds of thousands and the costs could be ongoing.

Are you aware that under the present laws in New Zealand, (the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) the conditions and fees of the administration of a will do not have to be disclosed until the client has passed away? (when of course he/she can't do anything about it).  Also in New Zealand law, lawyers are allowed to put large amounts of money into their trust account that was intended for beneficiaries according to a client's will?  This is not fair!

People have a right to know how their will is going to be administered, especially if the lawyers or trust company concerned has no intention of following all or some of the instructions on the will!  

My late husband was not informed of the administration and cost of his will when he presented it, and he thought that his wishes would be carried out as stated in his will…they were not.  Instead the lawyers had taken over the administration and were charging me up to $20,000 worth of fees annually that I would have had to pay for the rest of my life.  To avoid paying these fees any longer, I contested the will.  Not only did this ordeal cause me a great deal of emotional stress at an already very difficult time, but the amount of money that I inherited was considerably less than what my late husband intended to leave me.  He was simply never informed of the cost and method of administering his will when he presented it.  I am certain that if they had disclosed the cost and method of administering the will, he would have changed the way that it was written.

This type of injustice could affect anyone, you included.

After receiving advice from a local MP, I have decided to present a petition to Parliament with the object of installing a new act of Parliament which I have named the ‘Presentation of Wills Act’’.  

The rules for this act I propose are as follows:

‘When a client presents their will to a lawyer or a trust company, the lawyer or trust company must inform their client of the cost and method of administration of that will, verbally and in writing, within 30 working days of receiving it.  If the client is terminally ill, or is over the age of 80 years, these working days must be reduced to seven.’  

PROTECT YOUR INHERITANCE - PLEASE SIGN NOW!

Additional information:

According to a well-known Wellington businessman, approximately five percent of his clients have lost money unnecessarily through trust companies and lawyers who failed to inform their clients of their charges and the method of administering their wills. This businessman estimates that the total amount of money involved in this practice over the years since he has been in business would be in the millions!

https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2008/0214/latest/whole.html