FAQs for Online Wills

With the Will Package (which includes estate administration) we recommend you select Perpetual Guardian, as their services are inclusive with your subscription. However, if you decide to nominate a family member or friend they can utilise the Executor Support service provided by Perpetual Guardian (our third party provider), or go it alone. Because we believe in transparency, we want to clarify that if your executor elects not to use the service, then your estate will not be issued a refund on any subscription fees.

Footprint chooses to work with New Zealand’s leading trustee company Perpetual Guardian. If your executor decides to use a different estate administration provider, any fees incurred through this provider will be charged to your estate, as your Footprint subscription does not include payments to unauthorised providers. For more information on what our executor support offers, check out our terms and conditions here.

First of all, if you‘ve notified the important people in your life of your Will’s existence and whereabouts through the notifications function on your dashboard, your loved ones should have no problem finding where your Will is stored.

If you’ve selected Perpetual Guardian as executor for your Will, your family can contact them directly to discuss next steps. Perpetual Guardian runs checks every day to identify if an estate administration client has passed away - so if one of your close family members or friends don’t make direct contact with Perpetual Guardian, they will make contact with your family themselves.

If you’ve selected a personal friend or family member to be your executor, they’ll need to reach out to Perpetual Guardian directly to seek support for their executor duties. Once their identity has been confirmed they’ll have access to the executor support service provided by Perpetual Guardian.

You can cancel your subscription to Footprint at any time - all we’ll need from you is an email notifying us of your cancellation. If you choose to cancel your subscription part way through year one, no refunds will be provided. You do however still have full access to all benefits and features included in your subscription until the end of the year. You can email us at [email protected] to cancel at any time.

The answer is yes, it’s legal to have an executor who’s also a beneficiary in your Will. But we think it’s a good idea to keep the beneficiaries of your estate and your executor separate - just in case your Will is challenged as it could be seen as a conflict of interest, but it’s totally your call.

The legal age to receive any inheritance in New Zealand is 18 years old. If you leave anything to anyone under this age (for example any young grandchildren, or nieces and nephews) it’ll be held for them by the trustee of your Will. However, this money is still available before the age of 18 for certain things like child support or education etc.

It’s a common misconception (boom myth busted) that only one Will needs to exist between two people (something called a ‘joint Will’ which is sometimes offered overseas, but no longer here in New Zealand). Within New Zealand, your Will is seen as an individual list of wishes, which means you and your partner need to write your own Wills, even if you have the same wishes.

That being said, nothing stops you from writing your Wills together to reiterate the same wishes and essentially mirroring your spouse’s Will, or vice versa. This typically means making each other the main beneficiary, with the children as the secondary beneficiaries, and keeping everything else within the Will the same.

The Executor Support service is available to all Footprint customers who appoint a family member or friend as the executor of their Will providing them access to immediate support from a professional should they need it. This service is completely optional to you and your executor and will only be charged to the estate for the services used.

• Footprint Will Package Customers

  If you name Perpetual Guardian as your executor with the Footprint Will package, your estate administration fees are covered. If you name someone else then they will be provided an executor support administration service instead, as there are certain activities that only executors are legally able to perform. Terms and conditions apply.

• BYO Will Package Customers

  If you name Perpetual Guardian as your executor with the BYO Will Package option, your estate administration fees are covered. If you name someone else then they will be provided an executor support administration service instead, as there are certain activities that only executors are legally able to perform. Terms and conditions apply.

• Single Will and Will It Customers

  If you intend to name Perpetual Guardian as your executor with the Single Will and Will It product, you will be charged Perpetual Guardian fees. Click here to see their pricing structure. Terms and conditions apply.

Every country has its own set of rules and legislation, and having your executor deal with these from here in New Zealand can increase time and costs. We always recommend creating a separate Will in the country of origin for any overseas assets. This helps keep the $$$ down and should speed up the process.

Once we have drafted your Will, you will be advised to log into your Footprint account and review its contents. You can then download a copy, print it single-sided, and sign it. Signing your Will requires two witnesses who are not named in your Will as beneficiaries and who are over the age of 18. You and your witnesses will need to initial each page. Following the instructions exactly is super important as missing a step can actually make your Will invalid, crazy we know but themz the rules. For further information on how to sign and witness your Will, download our helpful checklist to Signing your Footprint Will.

Legally you can’t get a Will until you are 18 however it’s less about age and more about the value of your assets (AKA stuff) and or at what point you get hitched or have your own ankle biters (AKA children). As soon as all your stuff reaches a total value of $15k, you need a Will in order for those assets to go to the people you want them to go to. This could be one item or a combination of items like your car, savings and KiwiSaver.

A good age or time to write your Will largely depends on your individual circumstance and the assets you possess. If all your stuff (assets) is worth less than $15k, your closest living relative is able to manage all the details of administering your estate pretty easily, however if you have more than $15k the process becomes much longer and more expensive if there is no Will. Learn more about when and why you should get a Will here.