Order approving a Will — retrospective approval — Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988, ss 31, 54 & 55 — Slack v Rogan [2013] NSWSC 522 — DKC v AWG [2012] NZFC 5920 — Re Greathead (dec'd) [2015] NZFLR 127. The Judge had to determine whether an order could be made retrospectively approving the subject person's Will. In 2012 property managers were appointed and in 2015 a Will was completed and signed by the property managers in the presence of lawyers. The Will was sealed by a registrar but was mistakenly never put before a judge for approval. The subject person had passed away in May 2019. Subsequently an application was made in the High Court for a Grant of Probate but for probate to be issued the Will needed to be approved by the Family Court, to confirm its format and validity. Subsection 55(1) of the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act (PPPR) permits the Court to authorise the manager of a person subject to a property order to execute a will for and on behalf of that person. The Court must be satisfied that the person subject to the property order does not have the capacity to execute the will themselves. Under subs 55(7) the Court's seal can be applied to a will after the death of a person if certain requirements were satisfied before the death, being: the will was signed in the property manager's name for and on behalf of the person for whom it was made, in the presence of two or more witnesses and it was attested and subscribed by those witnesses in the presence of the manager. The Act is silent as to whether a will can be approved following the death of a subject, However, as a will is meant to be sealed when the draft is approved the processes are so linked that if the seal can be given after death so can authorisation. The Judge was satisfied that the Will was created in the required circumstances while the subject person was alive. It was only an administrate error that had stopped the Will from being approved. An order was made retrospectively approving the Will from 2015. Judgment Date: 6 December 2019.