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Make a will when you get married. If you don’t, your spouse will probably live to regret your inaction.

When marrying for a second time, your first will automatically becomes void. You must make another.

Why all the fuss about making a will?

According to the website of communitylaw.org.nz if you don’t make a will an administrator will need to be appointed. The order of priority for distributions is the spouse or partner (usually of 3 years or more), takes all the personal chattels and gets $155,000 plus a third of the rest of the estate. The remaining two thirds is shared between the children.

We won’t go into details of what happens if there is a separation, no children, etc.

Writing a will is not a do-it-yourself job, unless you want to enrich a lawyer later on. If it is not correctly signed etc it could be invalid.

Anyone can become an executor and they can consult a lawyer for guidance where needed.