Administering your stuff

In less popular terms this process is called ‘estate administration’

What is estate administration?

To put it simply, it’s the admin behind distributing your estate. If you think of your Will as an instruction book, estate administration would be the process of following those instructions through till the end. As soon as your executor has been granted probate (read article on an easy way to probate), they can then proceed to pay all your debts and eventually divide the estate according to the instructions of your Will.

What is the process?

Whether you have a Will or not, there is a set process in which your executor has to go through:

• Finding and contacting beneficiaries

• Cashing in assets i.e. KiwiSaver and bank accounts

• Making sure property is insured correctly

• Advertising for creditors

• Paying all debts

• Getting assets valued

• Dealing with gift requests

• Cancelling subscriptions

• Claiming insurance or any entitlements

• Checking employee entitlements

• Transferring ownership of joint assets

• Obtaining a declaration of family history

• Settling estate & completing an end of life tax return

• Distributing estate

How long does it take?

With a Will, estate administration can take an average of 6-12 months, but without a Will, it goes up by an estimated 50%. This means it could be 18 months or more before your beneficiaries receive anything.

An exposé on the cost of estate administration in New Zealand

Your Will is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to costs. Underneath there is much more yet to surface. The average fee to administer an estate in New Zealand when you have a Will currently sits between $10k - 12k (individual circumstances vary). Without a Will that cost goes up by an estimated 50%. This means on average, it could cost $15k or more.

 Traditionally estate administration fees come out of your estate as part of the bill. Lawyers and some trustee companies charge time and costs, others will charge a percentage.

At a minimum, you should be mentally prepared for further expenses associated with estate administration and keeping your Will up to date over the years. Depending on your circumstances there can be other charges, such as storage, disbursements, third party costs, trusts, enduring power of attorneys and more.

The Footprint solution to reduce fees

We recognise times have changed. We live in the age of Netflix, Spotify, and My Food Bag. So we are determined to bring modern, flexible thinking to a traditionally rigid industry. That’s why we offer an exclusive estate administration package valued at $10k. The service is provided by our sister company Perpetual Guardian. They have been around for over 130 years and are experts in their field.