13 October 2025
Tony Herring
President
The Law Association of New Zealand

Tēnā koe Tony,
I am writing to advise you of the upcoming commencement of the Family Proceedings (Dissolution of Marriage or Civil Union for Family Violence) Amendment Act 2024, which amends the Family Proceeding Act 1980. The Amendment Act received Royal assent on 17 October 2024 and comes into force on 17 October 2025.

These changes provide greater protection for victims of family violence, allowing them a new avenue for applying for a dissolution of marriage or civil union as a protected person without having to live separately for two years as required by the irreconcilable breakdown of relationship grounds. The new criteria for getting a dissolution as a protected person is –

• Either the applicant or their spouse or partner must be domiciled in New Zealand, and
• The applicant has a final protection order, or registered foreign protection, in place against their spouse or partner.

A joint application can also be filed if both parties have final protection orders in place against each other.
The Ministry has created new application packs for both the new joint and one-party protected persons applications. Updates have been made to the existing application packs in line with the legislative change. Guidance has been separated and updated to improve readability and efficiency of printing. The Ministry’s external website will be updated with information for the new applications, with online fillable forms.

If you have any questions, please contact the implementation project Lead Dylan Briggs-Jones – [email protected]

Nāku noa, nā
Liam Knight
Acting Group Manager – Commissioning and Service Improvement

Read the full letter here: FV dissolution letter to The Law Association