Register and enforce civil court judgments in the other country

On this page:

When a New Zealand court makes a final judgment against someone in Australia, you can register the judgment in an Australian court and enforce it against a person there.

You can do the same when an Australian court makes a final judgment against someone in New Zealand.

If you are the person who has had the judgment made against them, you may be able to apply to cancel the registration or stop the enforcement.

Types of judgments that can be registered

You can register judgments that order a person to:

  • pay money
  • do something (for example, return specific property).

Some types of judgments are not covered by this process. For example, you can't register judgments relating to:

  • wills
  • the care of children or people who aren't capable of managing their own personal affairs
  • child support orders
  • certain cross-border insolvency orders.

Back to top

Register a New Zealand civil court judgment in Australia

You need to apply directly to an Australian court to register a New Zealand civil court judgment. You should use their forms and processes.

You can register the judgment in an Australian state Supreme Court, or in a state or territory court that has the power to make the same types of orders as contained in the New Zealand judgment.

Application forms are set out in the Australian Trans-Tasman Proceedings Regulation 2012(external link)

Back to top

Register an Australian civil court judgment in New Zealand

You need to apply directly to a New Zealand court to register an Australian civil court judgment.

It costs NZ$100 to register an Australian judgment in a New Zealand court.

Application to register Australian judgment – TTPRR form 6 [PDF, 663 KB]

You can register the judgment in the New Zealand High Court, or in a lower court that can make the same types of orders as those in the Australian judgment.

The same rules apply regarding the types of judgments that can and can't be registered.

Australian judgments imposing civil financial penalties or limited types of criminal fines can also be registered in New Zealand:

  • The criminal fines that can be registered in New Zealand are set out in the Trans-Tasman Proceedings (Regulatory Regime Criminal Fines) Order 2013. These criminal fines relate to regulatory offences, such as offences under fair trading or banking laws.
  • Judgments imposing criminal fines must be registered in the New Zealand High Court.
  • These types of judgments are registered in the same way as a civil court judgment.

Back to top

What to do once the judgment is registered

Once the judgment is registered in the New Zealand court, fill in this form:

Notice of registration of Australian judgment – TTPRR form 7 [PDF, 331 KB]

You must then give the form and the registered judgment to the other person within 15 days of the registration.

Find out more about serving TTPRR documents(external link)

Back to top

Enforce an Australian civil court judgment in New Zealand

Once an Australian judgment is registered in a New Zealand court, it can be enforced in the same way as a judgment from a New Zealand court

If the court registrar refuses to register an Australian judgment

If the court registrar refuses to register an Australian judgment, you can apply for a review of the registrar's decision.

It’s free to apply.

You can do this by making an interlocutory application to the New Zealand court

You need to file your application within 5 working days after you received notice of the registrar's decision.

Back to top

Stop an Australian judgment being enforced in New Zealand

Review of registrar’s decision

If you think an Australian judgment was registered using information that was incorrect or incomplete you can apply for a review of the registrar's decision.

It’s free to apply.

You can do this by making an interlocutory application to the New Zealand court

You need to file your application within 5 working days after you received notice of the registrar's decision.

Apply to suspend enforcement or cancel registration

You can apply to the New Zealand court to stay (suspend) enforcement while you are appealing against the Australian judgment or asking the Australian court to change or cancel the decision.

Find out more about changing or cancelling a decision

You can apply to the New Zealand court to set aside (cancel) registration of the judgment. The limited grounds for cancelling registration include the court being satisfied that:

  • the judgment was registered wrongly or
  • enforcing the judgment would be contrary to 'public policy' in New Zealand.

It costs NZ$250 to apply to cancel registration or suspend enforcement.

You can do this by making an interlocutory application to the New Zealand court

These applications must be filed within 30 working days after you received notice that the Australian judgment was registered, unless the court gives you permission for a longer period.

Back to top

This page was last updated: