Wills & Estate Administration | Making a Will

Making a will

Making a plan for what happens after you die is the best way to help ensure that the people and things you love are looked after. It’s easy to create your will with Public Trust and can make the process of managing your passing less stressful for your family.

Create a will online Book an appointment Find the right will

If you pass away without a will and have assets worth more than $15,000, your loved ones may have to navigate a lengthy and difficult process to determine how your assets are divided and what happens to the people who depend on you.

What is an Expert Review?

Your will should be personal – it should reflect your unique life and legacy. To make sure everything says what you need it to, or that you’ve found exactly the right words to explain things to your loved ones, you might like someone with years of experience to review your online documentation.

A Public Trust Expert Review can do just that! One of our highly knowledgeable and experienced trustees can review your will, statement of wishes or EPA, giving you total peace of mind that your wishes are accurately and legally reflected in your will or EPA.

Once you have paid for your will, simply purchase an Expert Review and someone will be in touch after reviewing your documentation for next steps.

How to create your will online with Public Trust

No matter how straightforward your circumstances, having an up to date will ensures everyone understands what you’d like done with your estate – that is, your assets, debts and anything else in your name after you’re gone. This can include who will be responsible for carrying out your final wishes, your funeral instructions, who will be the testamentary guardian of your children and who should benefit from your assets, including any specific gifts you want to make.

As well as specifying what will be given to your beneficiaries - the people who receive your assets - a will is also important for naming your executor and trustee – the person who will be responsible for applying to the High Court for probate, collecting all your assets, paying all your debts, carrying out your final wishes and dealing with any disputes.

How do I get a will?

Easy & Fast

make a will from the comfort of your couch in as little as 30 minutes.

Built for your circumstances

basic, standard, and comprehensive options are available.

Secure and accessible

our online platform is available 24/7, with local support via live chat or phone.

Seamless add-ons

create an Enduring Power of Attorney or statement of wishes in your own time, online.

Thorough and guided

our specialists make sure you understand exactly what each decision means.

Specific to your needs

we’ll draft a will tailored to your situation and needs.

Simple and efficient

after your preparation (25 mins), the initial appointment only takes around 1 hour.

Future-driven

include an Enduring Power of Attorney or establish a trust to suit your needs.

The process for creating a will

Preparation

Preparation should take around 30 minutes. You’ll need to consider who will be your beneficiaries, what valuable assets you own, who you would like to receive them, who will be your executor, who you want to care for any minor children and what you would like for your funeral. See our guide for 5 things to think about when making your will.

Consultation

Online, complete the document in your own time. In person, one of our experts will lead you through the process of preparing your will, and answer any questions you may have. This can take from 30 minutes online for a simple will, to 1.5 hours in person for a complex will.

Review & approval (in person only)

We’ll prepare and check your will and then send it to you for approval before signing. This usually happens 3-5 working days after your consultation, and is your chance to ensure everything is correct.

Signing & safe storage

If you create your will in one of our customer centres we’ll help you witness and sign your will before storing it in our vault if that is what you want. This takes around 15 minutes, and we’ll give you a copy to take home with you. Online wills also need to be printed out and signed in front of two witnesses.

Have things changed?

We recommend reviewing your will every year to make sure it’s still up to date.

It's important to review your will regularly, especially after any significant events or changes in your life like welcoming a new baby, ending or starting a relationship, and buying or selling a home or business. We’ll send you a reminder to check your will after a year.

What happens after you die?

When your will is stored with Public Trust, we’ll keep it safe until it’s needed.

If we’re the executor of your will, your family can depend on our specialists to manage all the tricky stuff - the financial, legal, and paperwork burdens - as part of a process called estate administration.

If you’ve named someone else as executor, Public Trust also provides an Executor Assist service which is tailor-made to help them as much or as little as they need. Our experience helps hundreds of executors each year to make the task of settling a loved one’s estate that little bit easier.

Estate Admin

What you need to know and do when it’s time to activate a loved one’s will

Executor assist

What you need to know when you’re the executor of a will

Find a booklet easier to navigate?

We have created a helpful booklet that has some simple answers for the big questions around wills and enduring power of attorneys in English or Samoan.

Download English Booklet Download Samoan Booklet