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Re DF [2017] NZFC 7531

Published 15 May 2018

Application to authorise property manager to execute a will on behalf of subject person — uncontested application — exclusion of sibling from will — Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988, s 55 — B v F [1992] NZFLR 279 — Re D (J) [1982] All ER 37 — Re Manzoni: Kirwin v Public Trust [1995] 2 NZLR 498. The applicant trust sought authorisation for the subject person's property manager to execute a will on behalf of the subject person. The proposed will excluded his elderly sibling from inheriting under the will. The court was satisfied that the subject person did not have the capacity to complete and make his own will. The applicant trust and counsel for the subject person reached an agreed outcome. The court ratified the agreement, implementing the approach set out in B v F in that the actual subject person should be considered rather than a hypothetical subject person; and approaching the will as though the specific subject person was lucid and had been advised by competent solicitors, taking into account the feelings of antipathy or affections for the people in their lives. The court noted that there was little information available to it about the subject person, but found that the subject person did not favour his brother and would unlikely have done so. The court found that the material matters pointed towards to approval of the will being made. The applicant trust was directed to prepare the subject person's will. Judgment Date: 20 September 2017. * * * Note: Names have been changed to comply with legal requirements * * *