This is a New Zealand Military Forces will template, which was completed by Desmond McGovern in 1940 before he left New Zealand for the Second World War battlefields of the northern hemisphere. All members of the military forces had to write a will at this time.
Under the Wills Act 2007, ‘military or seagoing persons’ can write informal wills. This is because they are more likely than most to find themselves in life-threatening situations where making a formal will is impossible. No other groups of people have this legal right.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library, Desmond McGovern Papers
Reference: MS-Papers-9341-1
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.