Friday, 13 March 2026
Chair
Timothy Orr, Partner, Martelli McKegg
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how different legal tests for capacity affect estate planning advice and the preparation of estate planning documents
- Identify and manage issues relating to capacity, undue influence and a client’s individual circumstances when preparing documents, including Enduring Powers of Attorney
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD hour
Understanding Your Obligations Regarding Your Client’s Capacity and Circumstances When Advising and Preparing Documents in Estate Planning
- The effect differing legal tests for capacity have on estate planning and the advice given to a client
- Considerations when looking at capacity and undue influence in estate planning
- Understanding your client’s circumstances are key when you prepare documents such as Enduring Powers of Attorney to support adult decision making in estate planning
Presented by Alison Gilbert, Partner, Brookfields Lawyers, and Caroline Reynolds, Senior Solicitor, Brookfields Lawyers
Presenters
Alison Gilbert, Partner, Brookfields Lawyers
Alison Gilbert leads Brookfields Lawyers’ Private Client team. She provides specialist legal advice on estate planning, estate administration, the establishment and management of trusts (both private and charitable) and related asset-management structures, relationship property and incapacity law. Alison is on the committee of the New Zealand branch of STEP, and on the editorial board of the STEP TQR, and is ranked in Chambers & Partners High Net Worth Guide and is also the lead author of LexisNexis’ Succession Practical Guidelines.
Caroline Reynolds, Senior Solicitor, Brookfields Lawyers
Caroline joined the Brookfield’s Private Client team in 2024. Caroline advises on relationship property matters, family succession planning, enduring powers of attorney and trusts. Prior to joining Brookfield’s, Caroline worked as a solicitor focusing on relationship property matters, and family succession planning and then as a client manager within the professional trustee sector, focusing on existing trust management, trust establishment, succession planning, estate administration and the management of property attorney appointments. Caroline is also a Committee Member on the Mental Health and Disability Law Committee with The Law Association of New Zealand.
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.
