Asset Protection & Estate Planning

Protect the things most important to you.

We’re the experts at establishing trusts, companies, or other corporate structures for charitable purposes.

We also prepare your Will, Enduring Power of Attorney (Property and Personal Care & Welfare), and your Advance Directive, advise and assist you with how to structure your asset portfolio to mitigate your risks and protect your assets depending on your individual needs, but also your family and business needs.

With the advantage of many years shared experience in helping people with their Wills, we can assist with practical ideas, suggestions and alternatives which may not yet have been contemplated and may be useful to you (more than you might expect a "Will lawyer in Auckland" would do).

It doesn't have to be daunting, in fact, the Will you draft with us now won't necessarily be your last Will! We recommend that you consider your Will every 7 years or so, or earlier as your life circumstances change to ensure it remains current.

Drafting your Will, Enduring Power of Attorney documents (Personal Care & Welfare and Property), your Advance Directive, and otherwise preparing for your death or disability is an important step in taking care of yourself and your loved ones.

Get started with your Will and Estate Planning by clicking here to provide us with your details to review.

ASCO Legal’s Service Offering:
Our experience and expertise includes:

Will and Estates

• Drafting your Will, ensuring correct execution of the Will, and providing safekeeping for the original Will (along with any personal letters, lists or funeral directions to be held with it) to ensure its accessibility and mitigate disputes as to authenticity and capacity. Advising you on Will concepts including minors, guardianship, gifts, funeral wishes, burial wishes (including organ or body donation), substitutions, and pet custody.
• Assisting with claims against estates (both advising you about how they can be avoided and advising you if you think you have a claim) - including claims for a Testamentary Promise (e.g. someone promised to leave you something in their Will but didn't), Family Protection Act (people who weren't adequately provided something in the Will of the deceased), Property Relationship Claims (e.g. a claim by a partner or spouse to an estate), or challenging the Will as invalid for some reason (e.g. the deceased wasn't in their right mind when they signed the Will).
• As Auckland estate lawyers we are pleased to offer our services in the capacity as executor or co-executor of estates. We can also assist the named executors in administering estates.
• Applying for probate and administering estates in accordance with a Will.
• Applying for 'probate' (actually called Letters of Administration in this example) when the estate is intestate (e.g. the person died without a Will).
• Administering estates and applying for Letters of Administration when there is a problem with the Will or you're concerned that it can't be used for some reason (e.g. the executors have died) or the estate is modest so getting probate or Letters of Administration may not be required.
• Conducting transfers by survivorship if a property is jointly owned.
• Negotiating and drafting a Deed of Family Arrangement (in NZ this where the beneficiaries have agreed to a distribution of an estate that is different from what was drafted in the deceased's Will).
• Estate planning - advising on your current position and recommending a structure that will work for you & your family in the future, including any asset restructuring that could be considered.
• Trust and company formation, trust advice (including advising on resulting, constructive and charitable trusts), we also assist with the creation of charitable trusts and friendly societies within the regulatory frameworks in accordance with your requirements.
• As an aside, we don't recommend an automatic or DIY Will writing service as there are so many pitfalls! ...but if you have used a DIY Will writing service and you want us to check over the final product for you we would be more than happy to do that for you. We are also happy to store your original Will in safekeeping in our deeds room for you.

Enduring and General Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives

• Drafting and advising you on Advance Directives or "Living Wills".
• Drafting bespoke Enduring Power of Attorney documents for Property and Personal Care & Welfare*, to assist and protect you when you become unable to act for yourself.

* Private rest homes, hospitals, and residential care facilities usually require current Enduring Powers of Attorney documents and a current Will to be in place before they admit a resident into their care.

​If you or someone you know needs a Will or Enduring Powers of Attorney urgently, please let us know, and we will work with you to meet your timeframe. We are comfortable arranging to meet you at your home, public or private hospitals, resthomes, and retirement villages - wherever will work best for you. Alternatively our offices are very accessible for people with mobility issues - there is mobility parking right outside our doors, and our office has no stairs to negotiate. Please let us know how we can help you.