New Zealand Edition (4 November 2026)

Send us Fan Mail The Petal's New Zealand edition for Wednesday 4 November 2026 carries 8 decisions newly reported from the Supreme Court and the High Court. Seven are aired, as six items. The thread is the gap between a wish and a promise: matching wills that carried a hope rather than a binding agreement, an equal share that met a parent's duty whatever one child hoped for, a settlor's wish read as care, and counter-intuitive evidence that explains how children respond without proving what happened. Commercial Law Desk (lead). Perpetual Guardian Trustee Holdings Ltd v Meersma [2026] NZHC 3009 - wills made before 1 November 2007 fall under the equitable doctrine of mutual wills, not s 30 of the Wills Act 2007; a constructive trust needs corresponding wills and an agreement, intended to bind each testator, not to revoke, proved on the balance of probabilities with very great care; an honourable understanding or mutual expectation is not enough, and the absence of any written agreement despite legal advice, with a later inconsistent will through the same solicitor, told against one. On capacity, the propounder bears the onus once it is a tenable issue; a retrospective expert opinion weighs less than a contemporaneous assessment; recall of earlier wills is not a standalone requirement; capacity is task-specific; the third Banks v Goodfellow limb asks whether the will-maker could appreciate claims, not whether she gave effect to them. Claim dismissed (Gardiner J, 2 October 2026). JADE Lewis v Lewis [2026] NZHC 2854 - under s 4(1) of the Family Protection Act 1955, half of two substantial estates was adequate provision for an adult child, and the equal division could not be impugned; the lack of a mechanism to buy the family property at registered valuation was not a failure of proper support; properly understood the claim challenged the testators' inferred intention, for which the Act is not the vehicle. Obiter, the jurisdiction is not solely financial and a right of first refusal may suit a future case. Claim dismissed (Harland J, 17 September 2026). JADE Practice and Procedure Desk . Stockman Family Trustee Limited v Stockman [2026] NZHC 3182 - the Court may bless a trustee's momentous decision under s 133 of the Trusts Act 2019 on full disclosure, asking whether the trustee could properly form its view, not substituting its own; a beneficiary's preferred agent's higher figure did not show a breach of s 26(a); unsupported allegations of conflict and an uninvoked duress claim did not warrant withholding approval; termination of both trusts approved under s 124 for future and unascertained beneficiaries (Tantrum J, 15 October 2026). JADE Affco New Zealand Ltd v Meat Masters Ltd [2026] NZHC 3297 - leave to appeal an interlocutory decision under s 56(3) of the Senior Courts Act 2016 is a high-threshold filter, granted only where the significance of an arguable error warrants delaying the case; applications dismissed; the liquidation proceeding continues (Jagose J, 23 October 2026). JADE Criminal Law Desk . R v M [2026] NZHC 3425 and R v M [2026] NZHC 3426 - reported as legal doctrine only; suppression orders apply. Two sentencings for manslaughter by omission: mental health may in rare cases reduce the starting point itself where it alters the character of the offending; there is no presumption for or against home detention, which calls for a considered and principled choice of the least restrictive sentence; special conditions under s 80D(2) of the Sentencing Act 2002 need a significant risk of further offending; halving the ter