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Senior Courts Act 2016

High Court - Miscellaneous matters

44A: Execution of instruments by order of High Court

You could also call this:

"High Court can sign documents on someone's behalf if they won't do it themselves"

Illustration for Senior Courts Act 2016

You can ask the High Court to help if someone does not do what the court told them to do. The court can tell someone else to sign a document or endorse an instrument on their behalf. This signed document or endorsed instrument is as good as if the original person had signed it. You need to follow the court's instructions and do what they say within a reasonable time. If the court does not give you a specific date, you must still do it quickly. The High Court's decision does not affect any court cases that have already started or change what was legal before. The court's power to make this decision is found in the Senior Courts Act 2016 and was updated by the Statutes Amendment Act 2022. The High Court can make an order to help solve the problem. This order is an official instruction from the court.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS793629.

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Part 2High Court
Miscellaneous matters

44AExecution of instruments by order of High Court

  1. This section applies if a person fails to comply, before a date specified by the court or, if no date is specified, within a reasonable time, with a judgment or order of the High Court directing the person to—

  2. execute a conveyance, contract, or other document; or
    1. endorse a negotiable instrument.

      1. The High Court may, on application and on the terms it thinks just, make an order directing another person, who it nominates for the purpose, to—

      2. execute the conveyance, contract, or other document; or
        1. endorse the negotiable instrument.

          1. The nominee must execute the conveyance, contract, or other document, or endorse the negotiable instrument, before the date specified by the court, or, if no date is specified, within a reasonable time.

          2. A conveyance, contract, document, or instrument executed or endorsed by the nominee operates and is effective as if the person referred to in subsection (1) had made the execution or endorsement.

          3. The exercise of the High Court’s power in subsection (2) does not—

          4. affect a proceeding already commenced in a court; or
            1. invalidate anything that was previously lawful; or
              1. validate anything previously declared invalid in any proceeding.

                Compare
                • 1910 No 27 s 3
                Notes
                • Section 44A: inserted, on , by section 121 of the Statutes Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 75).