Succession Meeting with Lawyer
Hui for Hongoeka Block 4 A
Venue: Te Awhina Room, Hongoeka Marae
Present: Tony Cutting, Trevor Kale, Geoff Mullen, Lynell Huria (Lawyer)
Date: Monday 27th January 2025.
Background:
Kia ora Whanau
First, Ka aroha, it has taken 4 months to find a lawyer. The background for the whanau needing a lawyer is that Cousins Sandras’s research uncovered a mistake from 1992, which vested the ownership of the land to the trustees. Our current trustees thought this problem had been sorted out some years ago or were completely unaware of this situation. They have both been fully supportive of trying to remedy this situation.
This means we must go back to LINZ (Land Information New Zealand) to change the ownership to fit the whakapapa and reflect all the current shareholders. This will allow succession to take place. LINZ will only deal with lawyers because LINZ is liable for any mistakes made in land titles.
Discussion topics with the Lynell (Lawyer)
1) Shifting land titles and succession: Lynell stated we had enough documentation to show Nannys (Kamiria) ownership of the block, however, we did not have a copy of the will, we understand the komiti administrator has a copy of this. Legal documents explaining the whakapapa of the land were provided to the Lawyer. Regarding timelines, this could take up to 6 months to rectify.
2) Structures for Governorship of the land: Discussions were had around what sort of structures may be suitable for the trust to Govern the block as we advance na reira we would ask whanau to start considering options for the trust. She believes a Whanau Trust may best work for us. Lynell will explain how this type of trust works and why it would be a good option for us at our next hui.
Our personal view was the better option may be to have a trust made up of representatives from each of the five families; however, there are other options that the whanau may wish to consider. Lynell has advised that she can provide a trust deed for the governance of the trust and would require two hui. One would provide the governance structure that the whanau would like to have included (the rules that the trust would have to guide their decision-making) moving forward.
A second hui would then need to be ratified (approved) for the trust deed. In terms of timeline, we considered April / May to be a suitable time for the first hui and October for the second hui (2025). We were also advised that forming a whanau trust did not require waiting for succession to take place. We would ask whanau to start considering what they require from a trust, Items such as voting, representation, elections cycles are just some of the things that need to be considered.
3) Costings: We are currently exploring options for completing a trust deed, land transfers, and succession.
Advise from Lynell and our research suggests that this could be neutral (no cost); however, we don’t know yet. There may be an amount we need to raise to cover any shortfall funding does not cover. NB: Lynell is exploring finding funds to cover her mahi.
We have a further hui with Lynell in three weeks, so please let us know any questions you may have, and as soon as possible, we will come back to you with answers.
Ends
