Friday, 13 March 2026
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD hour
When Borders Matter: Cross-Jurisdictional Challenges in Will Drafting
- Explore how domicile, residence and asset location affect the validity and enforcement of wills across jurisdictions,
- Examine how substantive law conflicts (such as forced heirship, matrimonial property laws and differing tax regimes) can disrupt estate planning
- Gain practical strategies for drafting wills that anticipate foreign law issues and mitigate risk of conflicts and disputes
Presented by Israel Vaealiki, Partner, Jackson Russell, and Hugh Magee, Senior Associate, Private Client and Trusts Team, Jackson Russell
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how domicile, residence and the location of assets can affect the validity, interpretation and enforcement of wills across jurisdictions
- Apply practical drafting strategies to address conflicts involving foreign succession laws, matrimonial property regimes, forced heirship and differing tax rules
Chair
Timothy Orr, Partner, Martelli McKegg
Presenters
Hugh Magee, Senior Associate, Jackson RussellHugh is a Senior Associate in Jackson Russell’s Private Client and Trusts team. He has more than 12 years’ experience as a lawyer, and specialises in succession planning and asset protection. Hugh advises clients on trust law, wills, estates and relationship property law. Hugh works with families, professional trustees, and charitable organisations to help preserve wealth and ensure peace of mind through careful planning. He advises on all aspects of a trust’s lifecycle, from establishment to administration, restructuring, and winding up. In the relationship property space, Hugh assists with contracting out agreements and resolving potential challenges. His expertise in will drafting ensures his clients are in safe hands. Hugh has a background in tax law, which provides an additional layer of insight, ensuring clients’ arrangements are tax-efficient.
Timothy Orr, Partner, Martelli McKegg
Timothy is a partner specialising in trusts, estates, property and commercial law. Originally from Northern Ireland, Timothy graduated from the University of Dundee with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) in 2008. He assisted an NGO at the UNHCR in Geneva and then ran a legal aid team in Mombasa, Kenya providing legal advice on a wide range of criminal and family matters. Upon returning to the UK, Timothy worked on a high profile Public Inquiry under a former Court of Appeal Judge. Arriving in New Zealand in 2010, Timothy qualified as a lawyer in New Zealand and was a manager for ADLSI responsible for overseeing a wide range of legal forms and precedents including the standard Agreement for Sale and Purchase of Real Estate and the Deed of Lease. Timothy also worked closely with various Ministries, the Law Commission and the Courts on a wide range of law reform issues, particularly those relating to trusts and property law. Timothy then worked as a Senior Solicitor in a well-established medium sized law firm in Auckland specialising in trusts, estate and property law.
Israel Vaealiki, Partner, Jackson Russell
Israel leads Jackson Russell’s Private Client and Trusts team. Israel advises on succession planning, trusts, wills, estates, international and cross-border succession planning, trust and estate management and administration, relationship property issues, and charities and philanthropy and has over 20 years’ experience in these fields. Israel helps clients to manage risks associated with management and custodianship of assets by trustees, relationship breakdown, family disputes, retirement of key individuals, loss of mental capacity and death, the provision of inheritances, and charitable giving. Israel is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the International Bar Association (IBA), and is a Family Business Association Accredited Adviser.
