What is a Reseal?

In New Zealand, both probate and letters of administration can be granted for an estate where the deceased lived and died in New Zealand. They may also be granted for estates where the deceased lived and died in another country, but had assets in New Zealand.

These applications are reasonably complex. However, there is a simpler alternative. If you have an estate which meets certain criteria, an application for a reseal can be made.

What is a reseal?

A reseal is as simple as it sounds. When probate or letters of administration are granted, the court which makes that grant “seals” the document by placing a stamp, an imprint or sometimes (as the process was named after) a wax seal on it. The seal is what turns the document into a valid grant that can be used to unlock the assets of the estate. Without it, all, you have is a piece of paper.

A reseal is when a court in one country, New Zealand for example, takes a grant of probate or letters of administration made in the court of another country and puts a second seal on it. That transforms the document from a grant of probate that is only valid in Australia, for example, into a grant of probate that is valid in both Australia and New Zealand.

If you were to present the original grant of probate from Australia to a bank in New Zealand, they would not accept it and refuse to release the assets. If you were to get that same grant resealed in New Zealand, the bank would accept it because it would have a seal from the New Zealand High Court on it.

How do you get a reseal in New Zealand?

To be able to apply for a reseal in New Zealand, both the country where the grant originates and the country where you wish to reseal it must be commonwealth countries. The exception is Hong Kong which is included by statute as one of the countries where a reseal can be made in New Zealand.

The original grant of probate or letters of administration (or a copy, certified on every page by the court which made the grant ) must be given to the High Court of New Zealand. Then the original or copy will be returned once it has been resealed and it will bear that second stamp.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Here at N.J. Lowe & Company - Probate Law Consultancy, we have one of the few lawyers who specialise in obtaining reseals, probates and letters of administration from the New Zealand High Court for international estates with assets in New Zealand. If you are acting for an estate with assets in New Zealand, get in touch with Jenny Lowe today on jenny.lowe@nzprobatesandreseals.com for a painless and straightforward approach to your application for a reseal or any other related application that needs to be made.

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About the author

04 916 0153 | jenny.lowe@nzprobatesandreseals.com
Jenny is one of the few legal specialists who can obtain re-seals, probates and letters of administration from the New Zealand High Court, for foreign estates that have assets in New Zealand.

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Estates with assets around the world - Probate and Re-seals

Travel and living abroad are becoming more common, and as a result, it is also more common for people to have assets spread internationally. Even while people are alive, this setup has its complications. Once people have died and the executors of their estate are trying to gather together those assets and discover who inherits them, the situation becomes even more complicated.

Every country has unique laws about who inherits assets and how to treat assets when their owner has died. But what happens when assets are in a different country to the country where their owner died?

Who is entitled to deal with those assets?

If you are not already familiar with probates and letters of administration, read our recent article "Probates and Letters of Administration – what are they?". Essentially after anyone has died their assets cannot be sold, cashed in or the bank accounts closed until an executor is appointed. The court appoints the executor in what we call a grant of probate. (In the case of letters of administration this is known as the administrator of the estate. For the purpose of this article, we will refer to probate and executors as our example.)

Usually, the executor will be appointed in the country where the deceased has lived and died, and that is reasonably simple. All assets in that country can be dealt with by the executor under their grant of probate because the grant of probate is acceptable to all the organisations in that country. 

When there are assets in a different country, the organisations there will not accept a foreign grant of probate. They cannot be sure that it is valid unless it comes from the court in their own country and so will not release the assets they are holding.

 So what can be done?

The easiest way to get around this issue is to get a reseal of the probate. This process still requires an application to the court in the country where the assets the executor wants to access are located, but it is a much shorter application than an application for probate. A reseal is attainable only between Commonwealth countries.

 If the two countries are not both Commonwealth countries, then a fresh grant of probate is required.

Who is entitled to inherit those assets?

The laws that deal with succession are so different across the world that sometimes even wills are overridden by the succession laws of different countries.

The principle of international law that applies to decide which laws apply to any given property in an estate is called lex situs. 

Lex situs states that if an item of property is land (or attached to land - like a house or a building), it is covered by the law of the country where that land is situated. If the asset is anything other than land, it is governed by the laws of the country where the person who owned the asset was domiciled when they died.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

We specialise in dealing with these complex asset structures and have a wealth of resources and a network of international connections to untangle even the most internationally spread-out of estates. 

For more information or to discuss these matters, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our probate specialist Jenny Lowe by email at jenny.lowe@nzprobatesandreseals.com 

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jenny.lowe@nzprobatesandreseals.com
Jenny is one of the few legal specialists who can obtain re-seals, probates and letters of administration from the New Zealand High Court, for foreign estates that have assets in New Zealand.

We make these complex court applications simple and painless - contact us today