Who else is involved with your Family Court application

If you appeal in the Family Court, Inland Revenue and the other parent or carer may be involved, and certain information will be shared.

Who else responds to your application depends on what type of application you make.

When you fill out the application forms, the respondent is the person or people listed below.

Notice of defence

If you choose to respond to an appeal or departure order, you need to file a notice of defence and supporting affidavit. This means you’re telling the Family Court in writing that you want to state your side of the case in Court.

Even if you already gave us your side when the other person applied for the original review or objection, your comments will not be passed on to the Court. You will need to explain your position as if it’s a brand-new case.

Other involvement

You can still get involved in an appeal or departure order to give your own point of view or evidence, even if you’re not the official respondent. This is called ‘intervening in a proceeding’.

You can do this if you are:

• the receiving carer or liable (paying) parent
• any other carer of that child, even if you do not receive child support for them.

We may also decide to intervene and give evidence if we think it’s appropriate.

Sharing information

Any information provided for a review or objection may be used in Court, by anyone involved in the court proceedings. For example, when preparing affidavits or giving evidence.

This includes information a review officer gives you, us or the other person during the review process.

If you have a lawyer, you can discuss review information with them if you’re considering:

• applying to the Family Court
• responding to an application.

This is not a breach of privacy because the proceedings are private between the people and legal professionals involved.

You are not allowed to share information from a review with anyone else without written permission from us or the Family Court.