Family Law & Relationship Property

If you are part of a couple (married, in a civil union partnership or in a de facto relationship, including same-sex couples), you need to ensure that your property arrangements reflect your intentions. We can help you through all aspects of the Property (Relationship) Act including advising you of your options, drafting a contracting out agreement (aka pre-nup) or a relationship property agreement, and acting as independent legal advice if your partner has had an agreement prepared by another law firm.

Our family lawyers can help you with issues such as childcare and protection matters, guardianship and parenting arrangements, and family violence and protection orders. We can also help you through the dissolution of marriage, paternity issues, and other family related matters.

Give us a call to see whether you qualify for legal aid, and if you do, we can assist you in the following areas:- family law, civil law, employment disputes, and appeals from decisions of the Tenancy Tribunal and most other Tribunals. Where you wish to apply for legal aid, we can assist with completing the application, but we cannot undertake any work on the file until legal aid has been granted.

Legal aid isn’t necessarily a free service as some people believe, it is considered a loan. The Ministry of Justice, who administers the legal aid system, may require you to repay some or all of your legal aid, depending on how much you earn, what property you own and whether you receive any money or property as a result of your case. If you own property of substance such a house, the Ministry will require a caveat to be lodged against the title of that property to cover the grant of legal aid.

Please note that we do not do criminal legal aid.

Adoption isn’t as straight forward as it once was. There are now many factors to be considered before an adoption order is made. Consideration needs to be given to the reasons for wanting to adopt and whether the making of Parenting or Guardianship Orders should be applied for in preference to an adoption order. One of our family lawyers will be able to guide you through this process.

The services we offer include the following:

• Family Law
• Contracting Out Agreements (aka pre-nups)
• Relationship Property Agreements
• Independent Legal Advice for Agreements prepared by another law firm
• Adoption
• Legal Aid – Family Matters
• Protection of Personal & Property Rights (PPPR) Applications

Useful information from The Law Society

• Dividing up Relationship Property
• Family Violence
• Living Together
• What happens to your children when you part?
• When your relationship ends?