Guardianship of Children

Regardless of what care arrangements are in place for your children, including what care arrangements are set out in a Parenting Order, if you are a guardian your guardianship rights are able to be enforced through the Family Court.

As your child’s guardian, you have the right to be consulted with (and agreement reached between all guardians) regarding generally important decisions such as:

• The child’s education.
• The child’s medical needs.
• The child’s place of residence.
• The child’s culture.

If there is a dispute between the guardians regarding any of the above issues, for example, one parent would like the child to go to a certain school and the other parent does not agree with that school, then there is a “dispute between guardians”.

If there is a "dispute between guardians", to enforce your guardianship rights, you need to make an application to the Court. For this application, you will meet with Morgan to provide your instructions.  Morgan will then draft and file the necessary applications in the Family Court for a Judge to consider. 

If the matter is urgent, for example, one guardian is planning to relocate the children out of New Zealand or across the country, without your consent, then an urgent without notice application for Dispute Between Guardians can be filed.

Guardianship issues that may arise can be:

• One party is wanting to relocate the children’s town/city to live with a new partner or for a new job.  If this move will significantly impact your relationship with your child and you do not agree with the move, there may be grounds to apply to the Court.
• If you have evidence that the other parent is planning to relocate the children out of New Zealand without your permission, there may be grounds to apply to the Court for a Non Removal Order.
• Disputes regarding schooling, preschool, etc need to be agreed between the guardians or an application needs to be filed for the Judge to make the decision.
• Changing a child’s last name is considered a guardianship decision.
• Routine doctors visits may not qualify as needing guardianship consent but larger medical procedures are guardianship issues.

Disclaimer – Reading the information on this website does not form a client/solicitor relationship. The information on this website is very general and may not apply to your specific situation. Please seek a proper consultation with a lawyer prior to making any legal decisions. Do not solely rely on this information.