What is included in the Footprint Will and estate administration package?
Estate Administration Services:
- Whether your family is big or small, and scattered around the corners of Aotearoa. Our estate administration partners Perpetual Guardian (PG) will locate and liaise with your next of kin following notification of your passing away.This may include getting a family history to ensure your wishes are carried out and everyone that you would like to benefit from your Will does.
- Obtaining a grant of administration or probate from the High Court. What this really means is that the folks at PG will handle all the processes required to gain the legal authority to administer your estate and deal with your assets. They also do the checks required to ensure that the Will they have is your last Will and reflects your final wishes.
- Providing your beneficiaries (the people getting your gifts or estate) with an estate management plan and regular updates that will detail the progress in administering the estate. For example:
- A plan for administration is created which details the estate’s approximate value and what the beneficiary entitlements are according to the Will.
- It also lays out expected time frames.
- Provides a list of known assets (valuable stuff).
- Provides a list of known debts, such as tax returns (you know what they say about death and taxes), mortgage payments, council rates and utilities etc…
- Provides a key contact person for your family should they have any questions or concerns.
- Dealing with the assets of your estate once a grant of administration or probate has been obtained, for example: closing bank accounts; redeeming investments; transferring or selling shares; co-ordinating the sale of property and collecting proceeds of insurance policies; dealing with special gifts that have been left in your Will; and advertising to creditors.
- Your PG Executor also makes sure that all insurance policies are in place and adequate in respect to your property, contents, vehicles etc. This makes sure everything is protected in the off chance that something happens (fire, flood, theft) while going through the estate administration process (good thinking hey?)
- Work is also done to determine if the assets you are gifting are held solely in your name or if they are owned jointly with another person.
- Ensuring all chattels and personal items are dealt with as specified in the Will, this may include getting valuations and selling items or gifting to family members.
- PG will also check to see if any income is owed by your employer they will make sure that anything owed to you is paid out to your estate such as holiday pay etc.
- Dealing with ACC to get any entitlements owed and funeral expenses paid is also part of the service
- Getting all beneficiaries to fill out payment details forms, collecting I.D and proof of identity to all beneficiaries.
- The administration tasks involved in paying debts out of your estate’s assets; for example, funeral costs and credit card balances, any personal loans or mortgages (PG provide the administration service, estate pays the debt)
- Recording any transmission of property by survivorship relating to any jointly owned New Zealand assets (this simply means transferring the property to the survivor if it is jointly owned).
- Finalising your taxation matters including filing personal tax returns to date of death and dealing with any required estate tax returns from date of death and final distribution.
- Preparing financial statements for the estate and providing copies to the beneficiaries of the estate; and…
- Making payments to all beneficiaries once all the payment forms have been collected and filled out correctly.
Footprint Service Exclusions
Where the estate is “complex” Perpetual Guardian as the Executor may charge fees on its usual time and cost basis, for services provided specifically to deal with those aspects of your estate which qualify it as “complex”. In such circumstances, Perpetual Guardian will levy its fees against your estate directly. A complex estate is defined as administering (“Complex”):
- Assets outside of New Zealand;
- Assets given to beneficiaries that live outside of New Zealand;
- An intestate estate (dying without a Will)
- An estate appointing co-executors;
- A charitable trust, inheritance trust or a testamentary trust;
- A life interest or right of occupancy in any properties of the estate; or
- An estate which is challenged by your beneficiaries or potential beneficiaries.