Coroners Act 2006

Deaths to be reported and post-mortems - Release of bodies, and retention and return of body parts and bodily samples

45: Release of still-born children

You could also call this:

"When a coroner can release a still-born child"

You can get a still-born child released if a coroner says it is okay. The coroner must have asked a pathologist to do a post-mortem on the child under section 31. The pathologist must have found out the child was still-born after the post-mortem. You can get the child released if the coroner only needs to release the child. The coroner gets to decide this after the pathologist's post-mortem under section 42. The coroner has to follow the rules to release the child. The coroner looks at what the pathologist found out about the child. If the coroner thinks they do not need to do anything else, they can release the child. This is how you can get a still-born child released.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM377579.

This page was last updated on 12 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Health and wellbeing > Public healthHealth and wellbeing > Healthcare servicesFamily and relationships > Children and parenting

44: Restriction on release if parts or samples to be retained, or

"Coroners must not release a body if a pathologist needs to keep a part for investigation."

46: Costs of transporting body moved for post-mortem, etc, or

"Who pays to move a body for a post-mortem examination?"

Part 2Deaths to be reported and post-mortems
Release of bodies, and retention and return of body parts and bodily samples

45Release of still-born children

A coroner may authorise the release of a child under section 42 (and references in this Act to the body must be taken to include a reference to the child) if—
the coroner directed a pathologist to perform a post-mortem of the child under section 31; and
the pathologist concluded, as a result of the post-mortem, that the child is a still-born child; and
the coroner therefore determines that the only jurisdiction he or she has to act further in respect of the child is to authorise the release of the child in accordance with this section.