Search Results

1. Dissolution of marriage or civil union for victims of family violence

   A new legal ground is available for people affected by family violence to apply for a dissolution of a marriage or civil union as a protected person. From 17 October 2025, the Family Proceedings (Dissolution of Marriage or Civil Union for Family Violence) Amendment Act 2024 takes effect. These changes allow a new avenue for applying for a dissolution of marriage or civil union as a protected person without having to live separately for two years as required by the irreconcilable breakdown of rel...

   Located in:

   1. About >
   2. News & media >
   3. News

2. Apply for a divorce

   'Dissolving a marriage or civil union’ is the legal term for divorce. The Family Court can end your marriage or civil union by making a Dissolution Order. You can ask the Family Court to legally end your marriage or civil union if: you have been living apart for 2 years or more or You have a final protection order in place against your spouse or civil union partner or you and your spouse or civil union partner each have a final protection order in place against each other. In either case, at...

   Located in:

   1. Family >
   2. Separation & divorce

3. Divorce forms & fees

   Decide if you want to appear in court Decide if you want to appear in court to get a Dissolution Order (divorce). Appearing in court may mean that an order can be made sooner because a Judge will deal with your application rather than a Registrar however, that will depend entirely on when the court can allocate a court hearing date and it is advisable that you discuss with the court how soon that could be before making any decision. If you don’t want to appear in court, you need to fill out th...

   Located in:

   1. Family >
   2. Separation & divorce >
   3. Apply for a divorce

4. Family Court statistics: An overview of Family Court statistics in New Zealand 2004 to 2008 [pdf, 1.4 MB]

   ...likelihood of harm or impairment of well-being as one of the grounds for the action. • The main group of children taken into care are between 0-4 years old. In contrast, the largest group of children at their final review are aged 15 years and older. Dissolution of relationships • The number of joint dissolution of marriage and civil union applications fell steadily between 2004 and 2008. • In 2008, both the North and South Islands appear to have similar rates of dissolutio...

5. Relationships covered by law

   ...relationship. It’s like a marriage and has the same rights and obligations under law. A couple can enter a civil union whether they’re the same or different sexes. Both a marriage and a civil union legally comes to an end when the Family Court issues a Dissolution (divorce) Order. Different rules apply for dividing up property, depending on whether you’ve been married or in a civil union for less than 3 years or more than 3 years. If you were living as a de facto couple before your marria...

   Located in:

   1. Family >
   2. Separation & divorce >
   3. Divide relationship property

6. Separation & divorce

   ...about what you and your ex-partner have agreed. The Family Court can make a Separation Order to formalise your agreement or to make some decisions for you, if you and your ex-partner can’t agree. Apply for a divorce You can ask the Family Court for a Dissolution Order (divorce) if both of you want to divorce or if only one of you wants to divorce. 'Dissolving a marriage or civil union’ is the legal term for divorce. Divide relationship property You will need to divide your relationship...

   Located in:

   1. Family

7. Family Court statistics in New Zealand in 2006 and 2007 [pdf, 2 MB]

   ...counselling in 2006 and 2007 69 2.7.3 Characteristics of applicants 70 2.8 Adoption cases 70 2.8.1 Background 70 2.8.2 Recent trends 71 2.8.3 Outcomes of adoption applications 71 2.8.4 Characteristics of Parties to Adoption Applications 72 2.9 Dissolution of marriage or civil union 74 2.9.1 Background 74 2.9.2 Recent trends 74 2.9.3 Outcomes 75 2.9.4 Characteristics of parties to single dissolution applications 76 2.10 Interrelationships between cases 78 2.10.1 Background 78 2....

8. LCRO 217/2016 and 218/2016 RE and YI v WG (14 November 2018) [pdf, 187 KB]

   ...property and ERQ shares. By 2012, the parties had reached the conclusion they were no longer able to continue to work together and agreed to a distribution of the partnership assets. At the same time, IS made it known that he wished to dissolve his marriage to YI. [6] RE and YI instructed Mr PL of MOS Lawyers in July 2012 and Mr WG continued to act for IS throughout the partnership and marriage dissolutions. Ms GR was instructed by Mr WG to act in various matters arising out of t...

9. Pay online

   You are now able to file and pay for your application through our file and pay tool. Alternatively, you can: Deliver any documents you are filing to a Court (find your nearest court) or Post the documents to: Central Registry DX SX10042PO Box 789, Wellington 6140 Please remember the following if the application has not been filed electronically but you are making the payment through File and Pay: Under ‘Fee Options’, choose ‘I am paying fees only’ When your payment is complete

   Located in:

   1. Family >
   2. Separation & divorce >
   3. Apply for a divorce

10. How the Family Court divides relationship property

    On this page: General principles Length of relationship Dependent children Times when relationship property isn’t divided equally General principles The judge will be guided by some general principles when they divide your relationship property: men and women have equal status each partner has made an equal contribution to the relationship so relationship property should usually be shared equally (50:50) it usually doesn’t matter if 1 person is more responsible than the other for the bre

    Located in:

    1. Family >
    2. Separation & divorce >
    3. Divide relationship property