SOLDIERS' WILLS

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 63, 11 September 1915, Page 9

SOLDIERS' WILLS

THEIR ADMINISTRATION DIFFERENT POINTS EXPLAINED PROOF OF DEATH DIFFICULTIES ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S STATEMENT. A good deal o! misconception exists regarding soldiers' wills and deceased soldiers' estates, and the position as fully explained by the Attorney-General (Hon. A. L. Herdman) in reply to an enquiry made by a member of the House of Representatives will be of interest to the I general public. The statement is as follows : — ' i WDLLS MADE ON ACTIVE SERVICE. While on active service any disposition j of a soldier's personal property made' by a soldier in writing and signed by him, whether witnessed or not can be proved as a will if the circumstances are explained and the writing is identified. 'The [ Defence Department has decided that all wills received by that Department from soldiers serving abroad shall be sent to * the Public Trust Office for safe custody. On receiving notice of the death of a j soldier the Public Trustee will no doubt ! notify relatives that the will is in his possession. ' A number of wills have already been forwarded to the Public Trust Office. DIFFICULTIES REMOVED. Difficulties about proof of death as the result of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the matter of David Grant de- I ceased have disappeared. The Court made this statement : "In all ordinary i cases their Honours are prepared to ' accept a certificate in the form provided by the Defence Department such as is put forward on this application, certifying on the authority of the AdjutantGeneral that official information has been received at headquarters, that the deceased has been killed in action, has I died of wounds or otherwise has died on active service. It is sufficient that that information is stated in the certificate to have been received 'by an official telegram received at this office.' The deceased must be satisfactorily identified by reference to his name, his record number, and his rank, or other sufficient proof. No further proof will be required of the authority of the officer signing the certificate to do so, but the certificate must be annexed to the ordinary affidavit of death." To facilitate proof of death clause 32 of the Expeditionary Forces Bill which is still before the. House provides: — " (1) In proof of the death in any place out of New Zealand of any person who has left New Zealand (whether before or after the passing of this Act) as a member of an Expeditionary Force, and in proof of the date or approximate date of his death (whether before or after the passing of this Act), and in proof of the fact that he did so leave New Zealand any Court may in any proceeding accept as sufficient evidence a certificate under the band of 'the Minister of Defence, expressed to be given in pursuance of this Act and! on the faith of official information received by him. Judicial notice may be taken of the signature of the Minister of Defence to any such certificate." In proof of the fact that any person (other than one who has left New Zealand as a member of an Expeditionary Force) has, whether before or after the passing of this Act, died out of New ' Zealand while on active , military or j naval service during the present war, I and in proof of the date or approxi- ! mate date of his death, any Court may ,in . any proceeding accept as sufficient the sworn testimony of any person by affidavit or otherwise that, on the faith of official intimation received by him, he believes that such death has so occurred. If the. Bill is prevented from passing through the House in its present form, an effort will be made to get the clause set out above passed into law in some other form. ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES., Section 15 of the PubKc Trust Office Act, 1908, and section 19 of the amending Act passed in 1913, will enable the Public Trustee to relieve, relatives of the trouble and anxiety of administering estates which are under £400 in value. By paying a fee of 3s, the Public Trustee can in such cases file an election to administer an estate whether a man dies leaving a will or whether he dies without leaving a will. The Public Trust Board can reduce office charges when they appear to press unduly ' upon persons interested in estates. The board has power to alter the present scale of charges, and no doubt will consider the advisability, of devising a low scale to apply to soldiers' estates. • , STAMP DUTY. Legislation is being introduced to provide for the exemption of certain estates of soldiers below a certain amount in value from the payment of estate and succession duty. MONEYS DUE TO SOLDIERS. Insurance companies are authorised by law to pay over, to the next-of-kin moneys payable under a life policy up to £200 without requiring the production of probate or letters of administration. The Post Office Savings Bank can pay out up to £100. Clause 34 of the Expeditionary Forces Bill, which is not yet law, will, if it becomes law, provide (1) on the death, whether in or beyond New Zealand, of, any member of an Expeditionary Force to whom any sum of money not exceeding £100 may be payable by any person, such person may, without requiring probate or letters of administration, pay such sum to any person who ia proved to his satisfaction to be entitled by law to receive the same. In proof of the death in any place out of New Zealand of any member of an Expeditionary Force, any person by whom any money is payable as aforesaid may accept as sufficient evidence a certificate under the hand of the Minister of Defence. All persons bona fide acting under t-be authority of this section shall be absolutely discharged from liability in respect of the moneys paid by them under i | such authority, but any person to whom | the said moneys or any part thereof | ought to have been paid shall have 1 remedy for the recovery thereof against the person to whom such moneys have been paid. Nothing in this section shall be so construed as to restrict the operation of j any other enactment authorising the pay- , ment of moneys without probate or letters of administration to the representatives of any deceased person. In a postscript to the statement the Minister adds that, by arrangement with the Defence Department, lists of ( wills , made by soldiers are forwarded to that Department by the Public Trust Office, so that the circumstance that a man has ' made a will may be recorded in the soldier's personal sheet.