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New Zealand Lost Will Register
The Lost Will Register™ is a national register of lost Wills which can be searched by anyone for free, and assists in locating a lost Will. It only costs $57.50 to advertise a lost Will. The Lost Will Register™ is an invaluable resource that can be used by the legal profession, Government agencies as well as other organisations and the general public to register and search for lost Wills.
If a Will cannot be found, administering a deceased estate becomes more time-consuming and costly. If the last Will is not found there is a presumption that it was the intention of the deceased person that the lost Will no longer reflected their wishes as their last Will. Although this presumption that the Will maker intentionally revoked their last Will because it cannot be found it may not reflect the Will maker’s true intentions. Also where the deceased person does not leave a Will or having made a Will it cannot be found, New Zealand law provides for a system of distribution of a deceased’s assets (or their ‘estate’) which may not be what the deceased or their loved ones wanted to happen (called the "intestacy rules").
Therefore, undertaking a methodical search for the last Will needs to be undertaken. The search should include the premises where they lived, their bank, their solicitor, their accountant and their relations but if all that fails then your starting point is to make an online search of the Lost Will Register. The register allows solicitors and members of the public to register a lost Will by the name of the deceased person. The Lost Will Register™ can be searched by anyone and if the Will of the deceased person is found then the solicitor or family member can be easily notified.
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