The same day that police constable Shannon Rastrick filled out a document she considered to be her last will, she died in a single vehicle crash hitting a tree on state highway five at Tapapa east of Tirau in the Waikato. A High Court hearing followed because this document did not comply with strict legal requirements for a will.
The High Court was told the day she died in June 2022 Ms Rastrick filled out a standard-form document sold as a New Zealand will kit. She had not signed the document nor had it witnessed; formalities required by the Wills Act for a valid will.
Strict legal formalities govern wills. Once a person is dead, they cannot be called back to confirm that a particular written statement expressed their final wishes regarding disposal of assets or that the signature on the document is theirs. The statutory requirement for a signature and a requirement that this signature be witnessed by two others who themselves are not to inherit under the will is intended to provide certainty and to minimise fraud.
Similar rules in the United States came into play with long-running litigation in 1978 over a handwritten document claimed to be the last will of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. After a seven-month trial, the will was ruled a forgery. No valid will was ever found.
In New Zealand, the Wills Act allows the High Court to validate some testamentary documents which do not strictly comply. Evidence was given that the document left by Ms Shannon was in the form of a will, disposed of all her assets and was in her handwriting. It was not signed or witnessed. Justice Venning ruled the document clearly expressed her intentions. It was formally validated as a will. Terms of her will were not disclosed in the court ruling.
If the will were not validated, she would have died with no will and her assets would have been divided between blood relatives according to a statutory formula; default rules set out in the Administration Act. In this case, that would mean division of her assets between her estranged parents.
re Estate Shannon Rastrick – High Court (13.07.22)
22.122