Previous updates
In this section you will find previous updates about Te Au Reka.
April 2026 Update
The rollout of Phase 1 of Te Au Reka (Family Court jurisdiction) is planned to begin in the Christchurch and Ashburton District Courts, as well as parts of the national services teams on 23 November 2026.
This will introduce the new digital case management system for registry and judicial functions only.
The new courts portal will subsequently go live in March 2027 for the Family Court in Christchurch and Ashburton together with the remainder of the South Island.
The rollout of the courts portal and supporting digital systems will then continue for the Lower North Island and Central regions in April and Northern region in May 2027.
From 23 November, registry staff in Christchurch and Ashburton will enter all new Family Court cases into the system and judicial officers will only use the new digital decision making system for all new Family Court cases. Existing cases will continue to be managed in the Case Management System.
When the courts portal is live, it will be mandatory for lawyers in those regions to use the system for all new cases in centres where it is live. It will be available to court participants including self-representing litigants and third-party organisations, but not mandatory. To access the portal and case information, courts portal users will need to be verified with RealMe which is the secure, government-operated authentication and identity verification service.
Starting with the registry and judicial case management functions will allow for adequate testing, readiness for frontline staff and judiciary, and a carefully controlled rollout. This is critical to ensuring that people are well supported, and that the new digital system is stable, and fit for purpose before operating at scale.
However, as with any large and complex transformation that involves many moving parts, there can be things identified through testing the solution that are unexpected. Some things will be able to be accommodated but should a large critical issue be identified, that can’t be resolved by November, we would move to all functionality (registry, judiciary and portal) being rolled out from March 2027.
The portal will be accessed via a web browser and can be used on any device people already use in their day to day work. Guidance and learning on how to use the portal will be available on our website and through webinars for the profession ahead of the portal’s March launch.
Phase 2 will include rolling out the digital case management system and courts portal across the District and High Courts Criminal and Civil jurisdictions and is planned for the latter part of 2027. Learning from Phase 1 will directly inform the approach those later rollouts.
March 2026 Update
The dates for the rollout of Phase 1 of Te Au Reka (Family Court jurisdiction) throughout the country are still being considered.
Late last year the programme team identified that the design and build of the more complex requirements of the Family Court process was taking more time than estimated. While the programme is well advanced – focused on a robust build, thorough testing and tailored training plans – we are working through the final detail to ensure we can provide certainty about the timing of the rollouts for Phase 1.
We expect to be able to announce this in late April or early May.
December 2025 Update
We had previously indicated we would be announcing the new rollout date for Phase 1 of Te Au Reka (Family Court jurisdiction, Contact Centre and Central Registry) in December 2025. The programme is still working on the new delivery date and the announcement will now be in March 2026, when we are further through testing the solution.
Te Au Reka is large and sophisticated programme, and it’s taking time to design and build the system to meet some of the more complex requirements of the court process.
The functionality built to date is good, and early demonstrations and business testing has been received positively. We’re focusing on robust build, thorough testing and designing our training.
By March 2026, we’ll be able to give firmer timeframes on training and rollout for Phase 1. We are starting to gather all the information that informs the detailed design work for Phase 2 (Civil and Criminal jurisdictions), which will start in early 2026.
November 2025 Update
A demonstration of the new digital Te Au Reka ePortal was shown at the recent New Zealand Law Society CLE Family Law Conference in Auckland.
The 460 attendees heard about Te Au Reka’s progress, what it will mean for the profession, and how they will be supported to use the solution. They saw a case file in the ePortal and the dashboard that shows a lawyer what’s happening across their cases. When available, the ePortal will be accessed through the Ministry of Justice, Courts of New Zealand and other websites.
Te Au Reka will be used by the judiciary, lawyers and court staff to manage cases. The public will also be able to use the ePortal, giving them more choice about how they interact with courts and tribunals.
You can view the ePortal demonstration: Lawyer User ePortal video(external link)(external link) (4:08mins). We will publish more updates and demonstrations for all users as they become available.