Child Support Act 1991

General provisions - Miscellaneous provisions

226B: Fees and expenses of lawyer appointed under section 226 or 226A

You could also call this:

"How lawyers get paid for helping with child support cases"

When a lawyer is appointed under section 226 or 226A, their fees and expenses are handled in a specific way. You need to know how this works.

The fees and expenses are decided based on rules set by the government. If there aren't any rules, a court official called a Registrar will decide. The money to pay the lawyer comes from public funds that the government has set aside for this purpose.

When the lawyer wants to be paid, they give their bill to a Registrar at the court. The Registrar can change the amount on the bill if they think it's necessary.

If the lawyer doesn't agree with the Registrar's decision about how much to pay, they can ask a Family Court Judge to look at it again. The lawyer has 14 days to do this. The judge can then decide to keep the amount the same or change it to what they think is fair.

In most cases, after the lawyer has been paid, the court will make an order under section 226C. This order is about who should ultimately pay for the lawyer's services.

However, the court can't make this order against the government. Also, if a lawyer was appointed under section 226A to give the court advice on a difficult legal issue, the court can't make an order about who should pay for that.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6026507.


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Part 14General provisions
Miscellaneous provisions

226BFees and expenses of lawyer appointed under section 226 or 226A

  1. The fees and expenses of a lawyer appointed under section 226 or 226A must—

  2. be determined in accordance with regulations made under section 16D of the Family Court Act 1980 or, if no such regulations are made, by a Registrar of the court; and
    1. be paid in accordance with that determination out of public money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose.
      1. An invoice for fees and expenses submitted for payment by a lawyer appointed under section 226 or 226A must be given to a Registrar of the court, and the Registrar processing the invoice may decide to adjust the amount of the invoice.

      2. A lawyer who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Registrar as to the amount of the invoice may, within 14 days after the date of the decision, apply to a Family Court Judge to review the decision, and the Judge may on the application make any order varying or confirming the decision that the Judge considers fair and reasonable.

      3. Where in any proceedings a lawyer has been appointed under section 226 or 226A and the fees and expenses relating to that appointment have been paid under subsection (1), the court must make an order under section 226C, unless the court declines to do so in accordance with that section.

      4. However, no order under section 226C may be made—

      5. against the Crown, whether acting through the department for the time being responsible for the administration of this Act or otherwise; or
        1. in respect of an appointment under section 226A, where a lawyer has been appointed under that section to provide to the court independent legal advice on any complex legal issue.
          Notes
          • Section 226B: inserted, on , by section 5 of the Child Support Amendment Act (No 3) 2013 (2013 No 75).
          • Section 226B(1)(a): amended, on , by section 22(1) of the Statutes Amendment Act 2018 (2018 No 27).
          • Section 226B(1)(a): amended, on , by section 261 of the District Court Act 2016 (2016 No 49).
          • Section 226B(2): replaced, on , by section 22(2) of the Statutes Amendment Act 2018 (2018 No 27).