Coroners Act 2006

Appointments, administration, powers, offences and penalties, and technical provisions - Appointments

104: Relief coroners

You could also call this:

"Temporary coroners to help with extra work"

The Governor-General can appoint people to be relief coroners. You need to have been a barrister or solicitor for at least 5 years to be a relief coroner. The appointment is for up to 5 years and you can be reappointed. The Governor-General makes the appointment after getting advice from the Attorney-General. The Attorney-General gets advice from the Minister before giving their advice. You stop being a relief coroner when you turn 70 years old. Sometimes, a former coroner or relief coroner who is over 70 can be appointed as a relief coroner again. This can only be for one term and it must be for 2 years or less. The Minister decides how many relief coroners there are and where they are based. A relief coroner helps or takes the place of a coroner when the chief coroner says they can. If a relief coroner is taking the place of a coroner, they can use the work the coroner has already done. The number of relief coroners is not affected by the maximum number of coroners allowed by section 109(1).

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM377853.

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

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpGovernment and voting > Government departments

103: Coroners, or

"Who can be a coroner and how are they appointed?"

104A: Associate coroners, or

"Who can be an associate coroner and how long they can work"

Part 4Appointments, administration, powers, offences and penalties, and technical provisions
Appointments

104Relief coroners

The Governor-General may from time to time, by warrant, appoint fit and proper people to be relief coroners.
Each one of those people must have held a practising certificate as a barrister or solicitor for at least 5 years.
The appointment must be for a period not exceeding 5 years, but the person is eligible for reappointment.
The appointment must be made on the advice of the Attorney-General, given after consultation with the Minister.
Every relief coroner vacates that office, if he or she has not earlier done so in another way, on attaining the age of 70 years.
However, a former coroner or a former relief coroner of or over the age of 70 years may be appointed or reappointed as a relief coroner for 1 term that—
is specified in a warrant of appointment or reappointment; and
does not exceed 2 years.

The number of relief coroners (which is unaffected by the maximum number of coroners permitted by section 109(1)), and their locations, are determined from time to time by the Minister on the advice of the chief coroner.
A relief coroner acts in the place of, or helps, a coroner, but only when authorised to do so by the chief coroner.
A relief coroner who is acting in the place of a coroner may rely on actions by, or steps involving, the coroner, as if they were actions by, or steps involving, the relief coroner.

Notes

Section 104(5): amended, on 1 July 2007, by section 5(1) of the Coroners Act 2006 Amendment Act 2007 (2007 No 6).
Section 104(6): replaced, on 21 July 2016, by section 57 of the Coroners Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 29).