New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Psychological report under s133

Legal area

Court

24 Apr 2023

SHIRLEY v RICHMOND [2023] NZHC 913

Citation

[2023] NZHC 913
Court

High Court

The Family Court erred in declining to order a s133 psychological report because the report was essential for proper disposition: the child has marked intellectual and communication vulnerabilities, a documented resist/refuse relationship to his father, and significant distress such that expert assessment was required to identify causes and safe pathways to restore contact; that error was material to the final parenting orders, so the appeal was allowed, the parenting orders set aside and a s133 report ordered.
21 Mar 2022

G v G [2022] NZCA 67

Citation

[2022] NZCA 67
Court

Court of Appeal

Leave to bring a second appeal was declined because the proposed grounds are case‑specific factual disputes that do not raise any seriously arguable question of law or issue of sufficient importance to justify the delay of a further appeal; the courts below correctly applied the law on habitual residence and the s106 exceptions, and correctly exercised discretion not to order a s133 psychological report or admit further evidence.
26 Jun 2020

CARTER v SCOTT [2020] NZHC 1447

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1447
Court

High Court

The High Court affirmed the Family Court judge's decision transferring day-to-day care to the father because the mother's ongoing denigration, lack of family support for the father, and exposure of the child to conflict posed greater long-term risks to the child's welfare than the disruption of changing residence; the s133 report was given limited weight where the psychologist premised recommendations on an unestablished ASD diagnosis and therefore may have closed off other explanations; prior judicial findings and the child's expressed views were considered; appeal dismissed.

New Zealand Case Law

SHIRLEY v RICHMOND [2023] NZHC 913

G v G [2022] NZCA 67

CARTER v SCOTT [2020] NZHC 1447