Child custody in New Zealand

Both parents are guardians of the child, and remain guardians after separation.

The mother is a guardian. The father is a guardian if he was married to the mother at any time between conception and birth, or was living with her in a relationship like a marriage, or is named on the birth certificate.

The unmarried father, in one line: The mother has it; the father needs a step: a joint declaration, registration, agreement, or living with the mother at the birth.

Parents are encouraged to agree on care arrangements and, if they cannot, to use family dispute resolution. A court then decides, and the child's welfare and best interests are the paramount consideration. All guardians continue to share decisions on important matters, while the arrangements decide day-to-day care.

A child must be given reasonable opportunities to express views on matters that affect them, and those views are taken into account.

A guardian who wants to move with the child abroad needs the other guardians' consent, or a court's permission.

New Zealand is a party to the 1980 Hague Child Abduction Convention, which lets a parent ask for a child wrongly taken to another country to be returned. It works only with countries that have accepted its accession, so check the other country on the treaty status table.

New Zealand belongs to the Common law family. Family law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.

Read the New Zealand legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in New Zealand? →
Divorce rate and trend in New Zealand →

• Ministry of Justice, New Zealand: family