Family Courts Amendment Rules 2015

2015/155

Coat of Arms of New Zealand

Family Courts Amendment Rules 2015

Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General

Order in Council

At Wellington this 29th day of June 2015

Present:
His Excellency the Governor-General in Council

Pursuant to section 16A of the Family Courts Act 1980, His Excellency the Governor-General, acting on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council, makes the following rules.

Rules

1 Title

These rules are the Family Courts Amendment Rules 2015.

2 Commencement

These rules come into force on 1 September 2015.

3 Principal rules

These rules amend the Family Courts Rules 2002 (the principal rules).

4 New rule 316A inserted (Information about respondent available from criminal court)

After rule 316, insert:

316A Information about respondent available from criminal court

If a respondent to an application under the Act for a protection order is or has been involved in criminal proceedings, the Criminal Procedure (Transfer of Information) Regulations 2013 may apply.

5 Rule 432 replaced (Transfer of information to criminal court)

Replace rule 432 with:

432 Information about domestic violence proceedings available to criminal court

(1)

In this rule,—

civil proceeding means a proceeding in the Family Court under the Domestic Violence Act 1995

court file means a collection of documents that relate to a civil proceeding and are in the custody or control of a court

criminal proceeding means a proceeding for an offence against any enactment (other than the Act) that consists of or includes conduct that is domestic violence

database, in relation to a civil proceeding, means any electronic system in or on which information about the civil proceeding is recorded

domestic violence has the meaning given to it by section 3 of the Domestic Violence Act 1995

protection order has the meaning given to it by section 2 of the Domestic Violence Act 1995.

(2)

This rule applies if a defendant in a criminal proceeding—

(a)

is a respondent in a civil proceeding in which an application for a protection order is pending; or

(b)

has been a respondent in a civil proceeding and—

(i)

has currently in force against him or her a protection order; or

(ii)

has previously had in force against him or her a protection order.

(3)

A Registrar of a court that is dealing with a criminal proceeding may obtain information about the civil proceeding referred to in subclause (2) from—

(a)

the court file relating to that proceeding:

(b)

any database relating to that proceeding.

(4)

A Registrar of a court that is dealing with a criminal proceeding and who has obtained information under subclause (3) must make that information available to the court.

Michael Webster,
Clerk of the Executive Council.

Explanatory note

This note is not part of the rules, but is intended to indicate their general effect.

These rules, which come into force on 1 September 2015, amend the Family Courts Rules 2002 to—

  • allow greater sharing of information between courts so that information relating to a civil proceeding under the Domestic Violence Act 1995 in a Family Court is available to a court dealing with a criminal proceeding if—

    • the defendant in the criminal proceeding is a respondent in the civil proceeding; and

    • the criminal proceeding relates to a domestic violence offence committed against any person (the offence does not have to be committed against a person seeking the protection of, or protected by, a protection order):

  • insert new rule 316A, which is a signpost to the Criminal Procedure (Transfer of Information) Regulations 2013. These regulations facilitate, in certain cases, the sharing of information between a criminal court and a court that is dealing with, or has dealt with, an application for a protection order.

Issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2012.

Date of notification in Gazette: 2 July 2015.

These rules are administered by the Ministry of Justice.