For most people, the preparation for eventual death involves deciding what to do with their property. Should they make a will? If so, how, and on what terms? Do they have any obligations to provide for family members or friends? What if their mental capacity is diminishing? What happens if they...

This paper is the transcript of the author’s Inaugural Professorial Lecture, delivered at the University of Otago on 23 October 2008. The author discusses and dispels myths and misconceptions about trusts and identifies some of the pitfalls that become apparent when people’s personal or...

This paper addresses how the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 (PRA) may affect elderly people, particularly where the parties have assets from a prior relationship. The author considers what happens to their property if their relationship ends on separation or death. The author also makes brief...

In this article, the author reviews the first New Zealand Court of Appeal decision on the Property (Relationships) Act 1976: Nation v Nation. The article concludes that this decision should be welcomed particularly by property lawyers, because it provides some much-needed certainty in regard to...

This article discusses the death provisions in the New Zealand Property (Relationships) Act 1976 (PRA) and their application in the New Zealand Court of Appeal decision in Public Trust v Whyman. The author argues that the decision reveals the general uncertainty as to the overall purpose and...

This article considers the New Zealand Court of Appeal decision in Clayton v Clayton, which concerned a relationship property dispute involving assets held in trusts. The authors provide a brief discussion of the relationship property claims that Mrs. Clayton made against Mr. Clayton’s various...

The rules of intestate succession in Australia and New Zealand have their origins in English law as a result of colonization. This article considers the historical development of intestate succession in Australia and New Zealand. The authors discuss the major differences between the colonization...

This paper identifies an impasse between two conceptions of ‘property rights’. Formal conceptions explain ‘property rights’ in terms of an alienable right to exclude, that has moral significance in terms of individuals’ preference satisfaction, and describe a trust beneficiary as...

This article is an examination of the interaction between trusts and relationship property in New Zealand looking at key legislative provisions, sham and alter ego arguments, bundles of rights and the possible effects of the ongoing review of the law of trusts by the New Zealand Law Commission

Succession law in New Zealand has been widely criticised for many years as being incoherent and unprincipled both in regard to its approach to property entitlements for spouses and unmarried partners and in its liberal approach to support claims under the Family Protection Act 1955. Although...