Public Trust

5 stars for keeping us informed

I've been asked to leave a review by Public Trust staff. I'm sorry I cannot recommend using their services to prepare your will. Preparing the will is easy enough and they charge $69 upfront for a basic will, but then comes the painful part as you are then told you need to get two witnesses to make the will valid per NZ law.I told them finding two witnesses was difficult for me, and was advised to get a JP and their assistant. Okay, easy peasy, and that was when I rated their response highly leading to being asked to leave this review.When I approached the JP he said he would rather not be witness as it makes the will easily challenged that the writer didn't understand it (!). I found the whole process of finding witnesses frustrating and demeaning, the opposite of how you want to feel while protecting your assets!When I told Public Trust what happened they offered to charge another $50 to do the witnessing.As such, I have totally lost interest to prepare a will. The charity I was going to leave my assets to already has big name sponsors anyway.

Pleased with the high level of caring service and prompt attention given to the handling of my mothers estate matters.

I had to prepare a will for my NZ assets. The staff were very helpful, and gave all the info I needed. I didn't like the 'pay up front' thing, but it was fine after asking my questions. They had good recommendations re my international living situation, and in the end, it was done simply and not very expensive. It's a pity that their service is no longer free (since 2012), but it's reasonable.