Saxton Appeal Trust member Toby Wallis said yesterday it was "good news" that lawyers could continue the battle to clear his friend's name.
"I think it is quite rare for this to be granted."
When Morgan Saxton (31), a helicopter pilot, of Haast, died in November in a helicopter accident in Lake Wanaka, the trust stopped raising funds for the appeal.
Mr Wallis expected the trustees would meet again soon and hoped the appeals might be heard later this year.
Before Mr Saxton died, the trust had raised about $140,000 for Morgan and his father, David Saxton, who was also found guilty of stealing almost $900,000 worth of greenstone last year.
They served several months of their two-year-plus prison sentences before being released by the Court of Appeal on bail last May, pending their appeals.
Morgan Saxton died before his appeal could be heard and without a will.
Mrs Saxton was appointed by the court under letters of administration to be his personal representative.
In February, she applied to Justices Glazebrook, Robertson and Arnold to continue her son's appeal.
In their decision released yesterday, the justices based their discretion on two factors - a "significant reparation order" of $300,000 they said was a debt owed by Morgan Saxton's estate to the Crown; and the fact David Saxton's own appeal would proceed in any event, raising many of the same issues to be addressed in his son's case.
The justices noted other courts had varied in whether to allow appeals where the appellant was dead but they were satisfied this was a proper case for an appeal.
Denise Saxton was David Saxton's first wife and Morgan's natural mother.
Morgan Saxton also regarded Debbie Cain, his father's former common-law wife, as a mother figure.
