The New Zealand Family Court: its structure and process

SUMMARY. During the last decade the New Zealand Family Court has been central to the transformation of key aspects of Family Law. It has provided a forum for conciliation, thus enabling the resolution of family conflict without recourse to the formal adjudicative process. Conciliation, coupled with a diminution in the use of adversarial techniques by lawyers., have combined to take the bitterness and recrimination out of family breakdown. The Family Court has therefore succeeded in enhancing the welfare of children. These two articles are based on papers given to the Family Courts Campaign Conference, May 1989