Family Proceedings Act 1980

Overseas maintenance - Miscellaneous provisions as to overseas maintenance

151: Proof of documents

You could also call this:

"Trusting documents from other countries in New Zealand courts"

Illustration for Family Proceedings Act 1980

When you are dealing with documents from a court in a Commonwealth country or a country that New Zealand has an agreement with, you can assume the document is genuine. You do not need to prove the person who signed it is who they say they are. The court will accept the document as evidence if it seems relevant to the case. You can use documents that appear to be signed, certified, or verified by certain people in court proceedings. These documents will be accepted as evidence if they are relevant to the case. This helps make the court process easier and faster. If a document seems to be signed by a Judge, District Court Judge, or court officer, you can trust it until someone proves it is not genuine. This rule applies to documents from countries that have a special agreement with New Zealand, which you can learn more about by visiting the https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM35085. This makes it easier to use documents from other countries in New Zealand courts.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM41816.


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Part 8Overseas maintenance
Miscellaneous provisions as to overseas maintenance

151Proof of documents

  1. For the purposes of this Part, a document purporting to be signed by a Judge, District Court Judge, or officer of a court in a Commonwealth country or designated country or Convention country shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been so signed without proof of the signature or judicial or official character of the person appearing to have signed it; and the officer of a court by whom a document purports to be signed shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been the proper officer of the court to sign the document.

  2. Every document purporting to be signed, certified, or verified by any of the persons mentioned in subsection (1) shall be admitted in evidence in proceedings under this Part if it appears to be relevant to those proceedings.

Notes
  • Section 151(1): amended, on , pursuant to section 18(2) of the District Courts Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 125).