Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003

Procedural provisions - Which court?

116: Jurisdiction of Family Court

You could also call this:

"When to go to the Family Court for important decisions"

Illustration for Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003

When you make an application under certain sections of the law, like sections 45 and 84 to 87, it must be heard and decided in the Family Court. You need to go to the Family Court for these types of applications. The Family Court will make a decision on your application.

If a decision needs to be made quickly and a Family Court Judge is not available, a District Court Judge can make the decision instead. They can hear your application if necessary and make a decision. This is only done when it is not possible for a Family Court Judge to make the decision in time.

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This page was last updated on 7 August 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM225961.

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpFamily and relationships > Children and parenting

115: Matters of justification or excuse, or

"You're protected if you follow what you think is a real order, as long as you're not being careless."

117: Persons entitled to be heard on applications, or

"Who gets to have a say in court about someone's care?"

Part 9Procedural provisions
Which court?

116Jurisdiction of Family Court

Every application under any of sections 45 and 84 to 87 must be heard and determined in the Family Court.
If an application under any section referred to in subsection (1) needs to be determined within a particular period, and it is not practicable to have the application determined in that period by a Family Court Judge, any District Court Judge may exercise the jurisdiction of the Family Court—
by hearing the application, if that is necessary; and
by determining the application.

Compare

1992 No 46 s 17

Notes

Section 116(1): amended, on 1 March 2017, by section 261 of the District Court Act 2016 (2016 No 49).