Wednesday, 26 November 2025
Description
Attend and earn 0.5 CPD hour
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the legal requirements and enforceability of mutual wills in the context of blended families
- Understand the consequences of mutual wills on estate planning and intergenerational wealth distribution
Chair
Theresa Donnelly, Legal Services Manager, Perpetual Guardian
Mutual Wills and Blended Families
- The need for a promise
- What property is subject to the mutual will
- The effect of a mutual will and its consequences
Presented by Nicola Peart ONZM, Professor Emerita, Faculty of Law, University of Otago
Presenters
Theresa Donnelly, Legal Services Manager, Perpetual Guardian
Theresa Donnelly has a wealth of experience in elder law and trust related matters. Theresa graduated from Auckland University in 1992 and has over 30 years’ experience in private practice, government and in-house Legal. Theresa is currently the Legal Services Manager at Perpetual Guardian, and formerly Public Trust (Team Leader) and the Ministry of Social Development, where she was (lead Senior Public Law Team). She is a regular presenter and speaker for professional groups such as Legalwise, NZLS/CLE, TLANZ, CCH and other professional organisations.
Nicola Peart ONZM, Professor Emerita, Faculty of Law, University of Otago
Nicola formally retired from the University of Otago in 2020 and is now a professor emerita. But she is still teaching and engaged in research on trust and succession law, as well as relationship property law. She has published widely in these areas and has been a member of the Law Commission’s Expert Advisory Groups for its Review of Trust Law, the Review of the Property (Relationships) Act and the Succession Law Review.
