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Lawyers and court participants are now able to file documents and pay associated filing fees online for the Court of Appeal and the High Court.
The File and Pay service was introduced on 28 October 2020 and can be accessed through the Courts of New Zealand website.
The File and Pay service is a simple online form that allows lawyers and court participants to upload documents and pay associated filing fees using a credit or debit card. Those using the service will be sent a GST receipt to the email address they enter with their submission.
Following a File and Pay submission, the lawyer/court participant will continue to interact with the court as they do currently. If the submission is refused or rejected by the court, they'll be contacted as usual by email, phone or by post.
File and Pay is currently only available in the Court of Appeal and the High Court for both filing and payment.
The following District Court applications will also offer the File and Pay service, although the paper application will still need to be sent to the court:
Dissolution of marriage
Civil enforcement
Civil proceedings.
File and Pay will only be available for other jurisdictions when there's a need to ensure business continuity, for example, a change in pandemic alert levels or during a natural disaster.