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Family Proceedings Act 1980

Procedure

165: Power of District Court or Family Court to call witnesses

You could also call this:

"The court can ask people to be witnesses to help with the case"

Illustration for Family Proceedings Act 1980

You are in a court case under the Family Proceedings Act 1980. The District Court or Family Court can call anyone to be a witness if they think it will help. They can call you or your family members to be a witness. You can refuse to answer some questions if you are called as a witness. The court can ask you questions and so can a lawyer helping the court. Other people in the case can also ask you questions. If you are called as a witness, you will be treated like you were called by someone in the case. This means some rules from the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 will apply to you, see Sections 159 and 161 to 165. You will get paid for being a witness, and the money will come from public funds. The court will pay your expenses as a witness, following the rules about how much witnesses get paid. This money comes from public money that Parliament has set aside. You will get this money first, and then it might be sorted out later who should really pay it.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM41848.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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Part 9Procedure

165Power of District Court or Family Court to call witnesses

  1. In any proceedings before it under this Act (not being criminal proceedings) the District Court or the Family Court may of its own motion call as a witness any person whose evidence may in its opinion be of assistance to the court.

  2. The power conferred by subsection (1) shall include power to call as a witness any party to the proceedings or the spouse or civil union partner of any party to the proceedings.

  3. A witness called by the court under this section shall have the same privilege to refuse to answer any question as the witness would have if the witness had been called by a party to the proceedings.

  4. A witness called by the court under this section may be—

  5. examined and re-examined by the court, or by a lawyer appointed to assist the court; and
    1. cross-examined by or on behalf of any party to the proceedings.

      1. Sections 159 and 161 to 165 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011, so far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, shall apply with respect to every person called as a witness by the court under this section as if that person had been called by a party to the proceedings.

      2. The expenses of any witness called by the court under this section, in accordance with the prescribed scale of witnesses' expenses, shall be paid in the first instance out of public money appropriated by Parliament.

      Notes
      • Section 165(1): amended, on , by section 261 of the District Court Act 2016 (2016 No 49).
      • Section 165(2): amended, on , by section 44(2) of the Civil Union Act 2004 (2004 No 102).
      • Section 165(4): replaced, on , by section 9 of the Family Proceedings Amendment Act (No 2) 2013 (2013 No 80).
      • Section 165(5): amended, on , by section 413 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (2011 No 81).
      • Section 165(6): amended, on , by section 86(1) of the Public Finance Act 1989 (1989 No 44).