If you believe that your child's other parent or some other person is about to take the child out of New Zealand in breach of a parenting order, you can ask the High Court, the District Court or the Family Court to prevent this. You can also do this if you've only applied for a parenting order or are about to apply for one.

The Court can order the Police or a social worker to get the child and place them with a suitable person until the Court can deal with the case further. This is often called an order preventing removal.

People other than parents can also ask the Court to intervene if they have been given day-to-day care of or contact with a child under a parenting order, or have applied for a parenting order or are about to apply.

It's important that you apply to the Court quickly. Once your child leaves New Zealand, they become subject to the laws of other countries or to international laws.

How do you apply to the Court?

You should get a lawyer to help you apply. You need to be able to prove to the Court -

that taking the child out of New Zealand would breach a current parenting order that gives you day-to-day care of or contact with the child, or

that you have applied for a parenting order or are about to apply, and the other person is about to take the child overseas to prevent you getting day-to-day care or contact under an order.

You will also need to tell the Court why you believe the child is about to be removed - for example, because their other parent has said they will take the child with them when they go to live overseas.

How long will it take for the Court to make an order?

If your case is urgent, you can apply without telling the other person (a "without notice" application), and the Court may make an order within a few hours.

In cases that are less urgent, the other person is given a copy of your application (an "on notice" application) before the Court makes an order. This allows the other person, and their lawyer if they have one, to come to Court when it hears your application. The other person can then tell the Judge why they think that the order should not be made.

What action can the Court take?

If the Court believes on reasonable grounds that the child is about to be taken out of New Zealand, it can issue a warrant for the Police or a social worker to get the child and place them with someone suitable until a Family Court deals with the case.

The Court can also order that the child's passport be given to the Court. This will include any parent's passport that has the child's name in it. The Court can also order the person who was about to take the child overseas to give their passport to the Court.

If the other person has already made travel plans, the Court can also order them to hand over any travel tickets for them or for the child.

If the Court does not issue a warrant, it can make an order that the child not be removed from NZ, either for a limited time only or until the Court makes another order.

Notifying NZ airports

If the Court has made an order preventing removal of the child, you can ask for the child's details to be entered onto the Customs Service computer system for passengers (called a CAPPs listing). Your lawyer will be able to arrange this for you.

This means that the child can be stopped from leaving any NZ international airport by Customs officers when the child's details are checked on the Customs system.

This is especially important if the child is a citizen of more than one country, because a NZ Court cannot prevent other countries from issuing a passport for the child.

If you get an order preventing removal, can you take the child overseas?

No. The order prevents anyone from taking the child out of New Zealand - including you. If you want to take the child overseas, you will have to ask the Court to change (vary) or cancel the order.

Criminal offences

It's a criminal offence to take, or try to take, a child out of New Zealand knowing that a current parenting order gives day-to-day care or contact to some other person, or as a way of preventing a parenting order being complied with.

It's also an offence to take a child overseas knowing that a case involving the child is about to go to Court or that another person is about to apply for a Court order.

If convicted of these offences a person can be jailed for up to three months, or fined up to $2,500, or both.

It's also a criminal offence to try to stop a Police officer or social worker from taking the child if the Court has issued a warrant for them to do this. If convicted for this offence, a person can be jailed for up to three months or fined up to $2,500.

Further information

Pamphlet: Preventing Children Being Removed from New Zealand (PDF 108Kb)

Order copies of Family Court pamphlets.

The Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of Child Abduction

What if my child has been already been taken outside of New Zealand?

You should report the child as missing to the local police.

You should contact the New Zealand Central Authority for assistance and advice in making an application for the return of the child.

Under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of Child Abduction, you may be able to ask the authorities of the country to which your child has been taken to return your child to New Zealand. It is also possible that the person who took your child out of New Zealand could be prosecuted for doing this.

What is the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction is an international treaty that aims to ensure that children who are abducted or wrongfully retained by a parent will be returned as quickly as possible to the country in which they habitually reside so that issues of parental responsibility can be resolved by the courts in that country.

The basic principles of the Convention are that:

The rights of the child are the primary consideration;

Custody of the child (which includes day to day care) should be determined in the country where the child usually lives;

Children should not be taken or kept overseas without the prior agreement of other people who are entitled by law to give their consent. If these people refused to consent, the correct thing would have been to seek the consent of the Court in New Zealand BEFORE the child was taken overseas.

If a child is abducted from New Zealand, the child is returned to New Zealand so that issues of parental responsibility can be resolved by the Family Court. If a child is wrongfully retained in New Zealand, the child is returned to their country of habitual residence.

The Hague Convention assumes that the courts in the child's country of habitual residence are best able to make decisions about the best interests of the child.

The Convention sets up a Central Authority in each country to deal with applications for the return of children taken to or from each country. The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Justice is the Central Authority for New Zealand.

What are the aims of the Hague Convention?

The Convention allows parents to seek the return of children who are wrongfully retained in another country, for example at the end of a contact visit.

Further, the Convention allows parents to seek assistance in obtaining contact with their children who live with another parent overseas

What are the requirements for a successful application for the return of my Child?

To ensure that a child can be returned from another Hague Convention Country the following requirements must be met:

Your child must be under 16 years old;

You must have had "rights of custody" over the child; (It is not always necessary for you to have a Court order giving you day-to-day care of (custody) or contact with (access), or guardianship of your child. However you must have a right to determine where the child is to live). Most natural parents in New Zealand automatically have rights to guardianship. Even if you do not have day-to-day care of your child, you may still have enough rights under the Hague Convention to ask for your child to be returned to New Zealand.)

You must have been exercising the rights you had in relation to your child when the child was taken out of New Zealand. (For example - if you had contact (access) rights, you were using these rights to spend time with your child, and you can no longer do this);

Your child must have been habitually resident in New Zealand right before the child was taken overseas;

Your child has been taken to or retained in a country which is a party to the Hague Convention;

Your child must have been taken or retained out of New Zealand without your prior consent or the consent of the Court.

If these conditions are satisfied you may be able to ask for your child to be brought back to New Zealand, through the government authorities.

In some cases, the person who took your child out of New Zealand will oppose the child being returned to New Zealand, and the Court will consider their reasons for doing this.

If you want to seek the return of your child, it is important to take action as soon as you discover that the child has been taken from New Zealand or kept overseas. Any delay may later be seen as a lack of concern about the child being overseas.

Who do I contact if my child has been taken to another Hague Convention country?

If you want to ask for your child to be returned to New Zealand, you should contact the New Zealand Central Authority, who will explain the process. An application is sent from the New Zealand Central Authority office to the Central Authority in the country where your child has been taken.

What if my child has been abducted to a Country that is not a party to the Hague Convention?

If your child has been abducted to a Country that is not a party to the convention you may still be able to have the child returned to New Zealand. However, different laws will apply, and you may not be provided with financial assistance. You need to talk to a specialist lawyer if you are in this situation.

In most cases you will have to employ a lawyer in the overseas country to take legal proceedings to recover your child.

This can be more complicated, time-consuming and expensive than the process under the Hague Convention. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Telephone 04 439 8000) may be able to provide a list of lawyers in the overseas Country.

Which Countries are parties to the Convention?

List of member states.

How do I contact the New Zealand Central Authority

For information about the Central Authority in New Zealand, or to make an application for the return of a child you can contact the New Zealand Central Authority by writing to:

Hague Convention Advisor
Ministry of Justice
Private Box 180
WELLINGTON
New Zealand

Tel: (04) 918 8800
(or (64 4) 918 8800 if you are outside New Zealand)
Fax: (04) 918 8820

Contact Person: Patricia Bailey
E-mail: Patricia.Bailey@justice.govt.nz

Need more information or advice?

For more information or advice, click on the links below to other pages or pamphlets on this site, or contact a family lawyer (www.familylaw.org.nz), a community law centre, or the nearest Family Court office.

Legal aid

Anyone who needs a lawyer but can't afford one may be able to get legal aid. This is where the Government pays some or all of the lawyer's bills (sometimes you may have to pay some or all of it back).

You can get information on legal aid by -

contacting the local Legal Services Agency office (see the blue Government pages at the front of the phonebook)

visiting the Legal Services Agency website at www.lsa.govt.nz, or

seeing a lawyer and discussing legal aid with them.

Legal aid is available for all Family Court cases, except dissolution of marriage (divorce).

Forms

Application Form for the Return of a Child Abducted from New Zealand (Form 1)	Html	RTF (18Kb)	Microsoft Word document (30Kb)
Notes for Counsel making an Application for the Return of a Child Abducted from New Zealand	Html	-	-
Example of an Accompanying Affidavit	Html	RTF (23Kb)	Microsoft Word document (26Kb)