SOLDIERS' ESTATES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2890, 30 September 1916, Page 3

SOLDIERS' ESTATES

AND THE PUBLIC TRUST EXTRA WAR WORK THE MAKING OF WILLS Few, if any, of the Government Dfr; partments, witih. tho exception, "of course, of tho Department of Defenco, have been so much affected by the war as tho Public Trust Office. Tho normal work of the office has grown eoncidoraibly in the past two years, and the office has had.to db a, great denl of extra work owing to the war. The burden is all the more heavy because a considerable nunfber. of skilled men from the office havo gone to servo their country. ' When Sir Josoph Ward took ovor control of tho Publio Trust Office ho made arrangements for- the Publio Trustee, by his local officers, to attend at Trentham camp to prepare wills for. soldiers prior to their departure from New Zealand 1 , and to do this service free of charge. An' office has accordingly been established at • Trentham, and qualified officers attend on regular days to do tho work. In this way over 4000 wills havo been prepared for departing soldiers. A " largo number of soldiers prefer to have a simple form of will ui their pay book, as their only asset is probably the amount due to them as deferred! pay. Many soldiers prior, to their departure havo appointed the Public.Trustee their agent to aot in. the collection of interest, rent, and dividends, the direction of property) ifhe colleotion of allotments of pay, and the payment therefrom of life insurance premiums. The number of soldiers' estates under adminisfcratioiu is 440, land , the number which the Defence Department have dealt with after information has been supplied by tho Publio Trustee is 466. lie number of intestate estates administered or being administered is 723, and the office has assisted with 132 other intestate estates closed by the Quartermaster-General.. These numbers are constantly growing. The- Publio Trustee .makes _a merely nominal charge for the work of a<iministratioii. Notiiipg is oharged for legal costs, and the commission is ono per cont. on ordinary assets, wihioh do_ not include military pay. No commission is charged on soldiers'pay. _ . There axe special difficulties encountered in dealing with, some of theso soldiers' wills, drawn in their pay books.; : As legal documents, - some of the wills are extremely crude. Under the ordinary law a will, ,to be valid, has to be in- writing, signed by tho testator in the ; presence of two witnesses, who must also append their signatures. But under the Wills Act of 1837, which is in force in New Zealand, it is provided that the will of a. soldier "in actual' military service," may be executed in informal writing without witnesses, or even by word) of mouth. By legislation of Now Zealand a soldier is deemed to be in actual military service" for the purposes of the Wills Aot from ffio time that he is sworn in. It has happened that some soldiers —about 20 in allhave attempted to execute those privileged wills before they were sworn in, and such wills have been in consequence invalid. Under tho Wills Act these soldiers' wills may apply only to personal estate and not to realty, but in New Zealand a soldier may, by ono ■of theso privileged wills, doal with any assets, including' land.- Another importgpt'amendment in the'liw allows Soldiers who are minors to mako wills.

Not only has the Public Trusted been called jip,on.,.to.,sict as agent.. for .soldiers- iii the - first inetance. ; 'Many soldiers .leaving, to go to the front early in- tho war appointed private- attorneys to act for them, and these attorneys havo since gone to tho war. This was a 'serious matter, and it was met by the Government with regulations enabling any attorney, agent, trustee, executor, Or administrator to delegate his powors and duties to the Publio Trustee. This power has been freely used, and the Publio Trustee is administering many such trusts under power of attorney. Another branch of the war work of the Publio Trustee has been as "custodian of enemy property." UnJer this Lead the duties of tho offico have been important, extremely varied, and considerable in volume.