2. Sources Of Law
A. Trust Creation And Administration
New Zealand trust law is substantially derived from the laws of
England. The governing statute is the Trustee Act 1956.
The Law Commission is undertaking a full review of the Trustee
Act 1956 with a view to modernising this statute. There are
two other statutes, the Trustee Companies Act 1967 and the
Trustee Companies Management Act 1975; but they have
limited application to a handful of statutory trustee companies
incorporated in New Zealand.
The operation of trustee companies that are not statutory
trustee companies under the Trustee Companies Act 1967 is
relatively unregulated.
Two other relevant statutes are the Perpetuities Act
1964, which modifies the common-law rules against perpetuities
and accumulations, and the Charitable Trusts Act 1957,
which provides for the incorporation and regulation of charitable
trusts. Incorporation is not required under this Act to achieve
charitable status, whether for general public purposes or for tax
purposes. In practice, registration is often undertaken by a
charitable trust to achieve body corporate status and an enhanced
public profile.
A very significant change in respect of charities has been the
enactment of the Charities Act 2005, under which all
existing charities had to register by 1 July 2008 to maintain their
tax exemptions and tax rebate status. New charities will also have
to register to obtain these tax exemptions. The purpose of this
statute is to ensure a greater level of transparency and public
disclosure to minimise the risk of mismanagement or misuse of
charitable assets and donations. The provisions of this statute
have to be complied with in tandem with the rules contained in the
Income Tax Act 2007 that apply to charities.
B. Property, Estate And Probate
The primary statutes relevant to real estate are the Land
Transfer Act 1952, and the Property Law Act 2007. As
well as dealing with real estate matters, the Property Law Act
2007 also addresses formalities of deeds and other
instruments. The New Zealand framework for land law is a registered
title system based upon the Torrens system. Many of the
registration processes are now entirely electronic, and the system
operates very reliably and efficiently.
The law relating to wills and succession comprises common-law
principles together with the Administration Act 1969, and
the Wills Act 2007, which applies to wills of individuals
who die on or after 1 November 2007. The precursor of this statute
was the Wills Act 1837 (UK), which is an imperial statute
that is still part of New Zealand law. This latter statute has been
amended by the Wills Act Amendment Act 1852 (UK), the
Wills Amendment Act 1955 (NZ) and the Wills Amendment
Act 1977 (NZ). There are transitional provisions which may
apply, so in some cases both the new New Zealand statute and the UK
statute (as amended) will need to be reviewed.
A statute called the Family Protection Act 1955 gives
the courts some limited scope to allow claims against the estates
of deceased persons for maintenance where it is considered that the
deceased failed to make adequate provision for a spouse, children,
grandchildren, and in some circumstances, for stepchildren and
parents.
C. Taxation
Taxation revenues in New Zealand are derived substantially from
income tax levied under the Income Tax Act 2007 and the
Goods and Services Tax Act 1985. Revenue is also raised
from excise duty and a number of other minor direct taxes.