Frequently Asked Questions

We are a boutique private client and relationship property firm. We work on wills and enduring powers of attorney, family trusts, estates, probate and letters of administration, contracting out agreements (prenups and postnups), separation and division of relationship property, elder law and PPPR applications, and trust and estate disputes. We do not take work outside these areas, and we will tell you if your matter is not one for us.

We do not offer a free consultation. We offer a free 15 minute introduction call, which you can book from our website. It is a chance to tell us briefly what your matter is about, hear how the process works and what it is likely to cost, and decide whether we are the right fit. We cannot give legal advice on that call.

We will ask what your matter is about, explain the process that is likely to apply, outline the cost, and confirm whether we can act for you. It is not a legal consultation, so we cannot advise you on your situation or go into the detail of it. If you want advice, or if you are separating and want to be sure we act for you rather than the other party, the next step is a paid consultation.

We work on fixed fees for most of our services and our prices are published on our website. You know the cost before you commit, not after. Some matters need to be scoped before we can quote, particularly cross-border matters and anything contentious. Once we know what you need, we confirm the fee in writing before any work starts.

Tell us briefly what your matter is about and we will point you to the right next step. For most people that is the free 15 minute introduction call, which you can book from our website. If you already know what you need, we can send you our intake form and confirm the fee.

Both. Our office is at QBE Centre, Level 4, 125 Queen Street, Auckland. We also see clients at home where that suits better. We work with clients remotely by phone and video, throughout New Zealand and overseas.

It depends on the type of matter and on how quickly we receive what we need from you. We give you an indicative timeframe when we confirm the fee, and we tell you if that changes. Wills and enduring powers of attorney are usually the quickest. Probate, contentious matters, and cross-border matters take longer.

Sometimes, and it depends on the matter and on the week. Tell us the deadline you are working to when you first make contact. Wills and enduring powers of attorney can often be turned around quickly where there is a real reason, such as surgery or travel. Court applications and cross-border work cannot be compressed in the same way.

Yes, we are taking new clients. Before we can act we run a conflict check, which is why we ask for the name of anyone else involved in your matter, including a former partner, a co-executor, or another beneficiary. If we cannot act because of a conflict we will tell you promptly, and where we can we will point you to someone who can.

For wills and estate planning we can usually act for a couple together, and most couples prefer that. For a contracting out agreement we cannot: each of you must have your own independent lawyer, so we act for one of you and the other party arranges their own. For a separation we act for one party only. If we cannot act for both of you we will say so at the outset.

For most matters: the intake form we send you, identity documents, and any existing documents that are relevant, such as a current will, a trust deed, or an existing agreement. We send you a short list specific to your matter so you are not guessing.

Before we can act we are required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act to verify your identity, and in some matters the source of your funds. It applies to every law firm in New Zealand. Trust formation always attracts the fuller checks. We will tell you exactly what we need, usually a passport or driver licence and proof of your address, and we do it early so it does not hold your matter up.

We invoice after your consultation, and then in stages as the work progresses, rather than sending one bill at the end. We confirm the fee in writing before we start, so what arrives on the invoice is what you have already agreed.

We treat every enquiry as confidential and we do not pass it on. Two things are worth knowing. Until we have run a conflict check and you have engaged us you are not yet our client, so the protections that apply to client communications are not yet fully in place. And your enquiry is recorded in our intake system so that we can follow it up. Give us the outline of your matter and keep the detail for the call.

No. We do not do property conveyancing and we do not act on care of children or parenting arrangements. If that is what you need we would rather tell you now and point you to someone who does it well.

Yes. Polina is fluent in Russian and regularly acts for Russian-speaking clients, including clients living outside New Zealand.

Yes. We prepare wills and enduring powers of attorney, and we look at how your assets are actually owned so that your will does what you expect it to. If you have a family trust, jointly owned property, or assets overseas, that affects what your will can and cannot do, and we will go through that with you.

A trust only deals with the assets held in it. Anything you own in your own name still passes under your will, so most people with a trust still need one. We look at the trust and the will together so there are no gaps between them.

A testamentary guardian is someone you appoint in your will to have a say in the care and upbringing of your children if you die while they are still young. It is not the same as appointing someone to look after money for them, and it is not the same as day to day care. Parents often assume it happens automatically. It does not, and it is one of the more important things a will does for a young family.

A will has to be signed in a particular way, with witnesses present, or it may not be valid. We take you through that step by step, either here in the office or supervised remotely. We regularly act for clients living overseas and we will set out exactly what needs to happen where you are.

Yes. We prepare enduring powers of attorney for property and for personal care and welfare, and we advise attorneys on their obligations once an EPA is being used. We also deal with activation, and with situations where capacity is already in question.

It is a document appointing someone to make decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. There are two kinds: one for property, and one for personal care and welfare. The property one can take effect immediately or only on incapacity, depending on what you choose. The care and welfare one only ever operates once you are assessed as lacking capacity. They have to be signed with particular formalities, including a witness who is independent of your attorney and who must explain the effect of the document to you, or they may not be valid when they are needed.

We can help. Depending on where things stand, that may mean putting an enduring power of attorney in place while your parent still has capacity, advising an attorney who is already acting, or applying to the Family Court under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act if capacity has already gone and there is no EPA. Tell us briefly what has happened and we will explain the options.

Yes. These are contracting out agreements under the Property (Relationships) Act. We prepare them for couples who are marrying, entering a civil union, or living together, and for couples already together who want to record what happens to property brought into or acquired during the relationship. For the agreement to be valid each party must have their own independent lawyer, so we act for one of you and the other party will need their own advice.

It is an agreement that sets aside the default rules about how property is divided if you separate, and records what you have agreed instead. It is often called a prenup when signed before a marriage or civil union, but it can be made at any point in a relationship. Whether you need one depends on what each of you is bringing in, whether either of you has children from an earlier relationship, whether a trust or a business is involved, and how much you want certainty rather than an argument later.

For the agreement to be valid it must be in writing, each party must sign it, and each party must have their own lawyer explain the effect and the implications of the agreement to them. The lawyer then certifies that they have done so. Certification is not a formality. It means going through the agreement with you properly, telling you what you are giving up as well as what you are getting, and recording that advice. We act for one party only, so if the agreement was drafted by the other party's lawyer we can review it and certify for you. If we drafted it, your partner will need their own lawyer to certify for them.

The relationship property rules generally apply to de facto relationships that have lasted three years or more, and to marriages and civil unions from the start. Shorter de facto relationships are treated differently and are brought in only in limited circumstances. Whether a relationship qualifies, and when it began, is often less obvious than people expect, which is why it is one of the first things we ask about.

Yes. We advise on separation agreements and the division of relationship property, including matters involving trusts, businesses, and assets in more than one country. We act for one party only. If your former partner has already contacted us we will not be able to act for you, which is why we ask early for their name.

The same requirements apply as for a contracting out agreement. An agreement dividing relationship property has to be in writing and signed, and each of you needs your own lawyer to explain its effect and implications and to certify that they have done so. People often come to us with an agreement already drafted, sometimes by the other party's lawyer and sometimes between themselves, and ask us to certify it. We are happy to do that. But certifying is advising: we will tell you if we think the agreement is not in your interests, and we cannot certify an agreement we have not properly gone through with you.

Generally yes, and that is the point of it. A properly drafted, signed and certified agreement is intended to settle matters so that neither of you can reopen them later. The court keeps a limited power to set an agreement aside in narrow circumstances, which is one of the reasons the certification step matters, and why an agreement done cheaply or without proper advice is a false economy.

Usually not. Most relationship property matters are resolved by agreement, recorded in a separation agreement and certified by each party's lawyer. Court is the exception rather than the rule, and it is generally the slowest and most expensive way to reach the same place. We will tell you early if we think your matter is one that is heading that way.

Yes. We act for executors and administrators, prepare and file the application, and deal with the complications that arise, including a missing or damaged will, an estate with no will, assets overseas, and disagreements between executors or beneficiaries.

Tell us whether there is a will, whether the original has been found, and roughly what the person owned. From that we can tell you whether a grant of probate or letters of administration is needed, what it will cost, and how long it usually takes. If you are the executor we can act for you in that role.

An executor is the person named in a will to carry out its terms. In practice that means locating and securing the assets, applying to the High Court for a grant of probate where one is needed, paying debts and any tax, and then distributing what is left to the beneficiaries. You are personally accountable for doing it properly, which is why most executors have a lawyer act for them. We can do as much or as little of it as you want.

Probate is the High Court confirming that a will is valid and that the executor named in it has authority to act. Banks, share registries and Land Information New Zealand generally will not release or transfer assets above certain thresholds without it. Not every estate needs probate, which is one of the first things we check.

Their estate is distributed according to a statutory order set out in the Administration Act, not according to what they may have said they wanted. Who receives what depends on which family members survive them, and a surviving partner does not automatically receive everything. Someone still has to be appointed to administer the estate, which is done by applying for letters of administration. Tell us who has survived and roughly what the person owned and we can explain where you stand.

Yes. We establish family trusts, draft trust deeds, advise trustees on their duties, and review or restructure existing trusts when circumstances change. We also advise on whether a trust is the right structure for you, which is not always the answer.

A trust holds assets separately from the people who set it up, usually to protect them or to provide for family over time. Trusts are still useful, but they are less of a default answer than they once were, they carry real obligations for trustees under the Trusts Act, and a trust that is not properly administered can leave you worse off than no trust at all. We will tell you honestly whether one is worth it in your situation.

Yes. We advise on claims against estates, including Family Protection Act claims, testamentary promises claims, and challenges to the validity of a will, as well as disputes between trustees and beneficiaries. These matters have strict time limits, so it is worth getting advice early. If a matter goes to court we work alongside a barrister.

Yes, and it is a substantial part of what we do. Polina is STEP qualified, and we regularly act on wills and contracting out agreements where assets, beneficiaries, or one of the parties are outside New Zealand. Cross-border matters are scoped and quoted separately, because the work depends on which countries are involved.