Te Raukura Whenua Trust

The Problem#

• Maori freehold land cannot be sold outside the whanau (extended family) — when a shareholder dies, their interest must pass to another whanau member
• Determining eligibility requires navigating complex whakapapa (genealogical connections) that standard succession software does not model
• The Maori Land Court administers successions, but applications are paper-based, genealogical records are held separately from land records, and the process takes an average of 18 months
• Te Raukura manages interests in 14 land blocks with approximately 2,400 shareholders across multiple whanau

How They’d Use INHERIT#

• Each land block is a property.json entry linked to the australia-nz extension’s MaoriLandDetails type, recording landBlockIdentifier, maoriLandCourtReference, and successionUnderTeTureWhenua: true
• Whakapapa relationships are modelled in kinship.json, capturing the extended family connections that determine succession eligibility
• person.json entries for all 2,400 shareholders include identifiers and contact details
• When a shareholder dies, estate.json links to their land interests, and the trust generates a structured succession application showing the deceased’s interests, the proposed successor, and the whakapapa connection
• All entries are validated against the existing shareholder register to prevent conflicts

The Integration#

• Export-focused: Te Raukura generates INHERIT documents for Maori Land Court succession applications
• The structured format allows the Court to auto-populate their systems, reducing manual processing
• The trust also uses INHERIT internally as a living register of shareholder interests, updated with each succession event

The Business Case#

• Structured succession applications reduce Maori Land Court processing time from 18 months to an estimated 6 months
• With approximately 50 succession events per year, faster processing means whanau access their inherited land interests sooner
• Annual savings estimated at NZ$120,000 (approximately £58,000) in reduced legal and administrative costs
• The greater benefit is cultural: ensuring Maori land stays within whanau as intended by Te Ture Whenua

Before / After#

Without INHERIT:

1. A shareholder in Maori freehold land dies
2. Te Raukura compiles whakapapa records manually from paper files and family knowledge
3. A paper succession application is prepared for the Maori Land Court, with genealogical records attached separately
4. The Court processes the application over 18 months — land records and whakapapa are reconciled by hand
5. The whanau waits more than a year to access the inherited interest

With INHERIT:

1. A shareholder dies — their estate.json record is created, linking to their land interests in property.json
2. Te Raukura generates a structured succession application with whakapapa in kinship.json, validated against the shareholder register
3. The Maori Land Court receives a complete, validated application — processing drops to approximately 6 months
4. The whanau accesses their inherited interest in a fraction of the previous time