Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988

32 Application to trustee corporation to act as manager

• (1) Any person who—

  • (a) has attained the age of 18 years; and

  • (b) is domiciled or is ordinarily resident in New Zealand; and

  • (c) considers that he or she lacks wholly or partly the competence to manage his or her own affairs in relation to his or her property,—

  may apply in accordance with the succeeding provisions of this section to a trustee corporation to act as manager of that person's property or of any part of it.

  (2) Every application under this section shall be in writing, and shall—

  • (a) contain particulars of the person's lack of competence to manage his or her own affairs in relation to his or her property; and

  • (b) specify the property of the applicant, and the rights and powers in respect of that property, of which the applicant wishes the trustee corporation to assume control; and

  • (c) be accompanied by—

    • (i) certificates from 2 medical practitioners (at least 1 of whom must be independent of the applicant, or a relative of the applicant) as to the extent of the applicant's lack of competence to manage his or her own affairs in relation to his or her property; and

    • (ii) a statutory declaration by the applicant that the applicant has received independent legal advice about, and understands the nature, purpose, and consequences of, the application and the applicant's right under section 34(c) to declare that the trustee corporation shall no longer act as manager; and

  • (d) be made to the trustee corporation within 30 days after the date of the earlier of the 2 medical certificates referred to in paragraph (c)(i), or of the date of the statutory declaration referred to in paragraph (c)(ii), whichever is the earlier.

  (3) If the trustee corporation is satisfied that—

  • (a) the applicant is not wholly competent to manage his or her own affairs in relation to his or her property; and

  • (b) it is in the best interests of that person that a manager act for that person; and

  • (c) the applicant seeks to have the trustee corporation assume control of the property of the applicant, and of the applicant's rights and powers in respect of that property (as specified in the application) only to the extent necessary having regard to the degree of the applicant's lack of competence,—

  the trustee corporation may accept the application and file a copy of it with a court within 30 days after the making of the application.

  (4) The trustee corporation shall make such inquiries and obtain such reports as it thinks necessary for the purposes of subsection (3).

  (5) On the filing of a copy of an application under subsection (3), the trustee corporation shall become the manager of the property specified in the application and shall have and may exercise in respect of that property the rights and powers specified in the application.

  Section 32(2)(c)(i): substituted, on 18 September 2004, by section 175(1) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (2003 No 48).