Review of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976

Response to issues paper from the Office of the Children's Commissioner

Children’s lives are affected both materially and emotionally if their parents, guardians or adults they are dependent on should separate. In 2015, over 6000 children were affected by divorce and with 43% of all children in one parent families, in the absence of recorded statistics, we can assume that hundreds more children were impacted by separation in defacto relationships. The Property (Relationships) Act 1976 (the ‘PRA’) provides some legal protection for the rights of the child with regard to property. The United Nations Children’s Convention directs that New Zealand should take appropriate measures to assist those responsible for children to access the child’s right to a standard of living adequate for their development. With this in mind, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner supports all policy and legislative measures that create an adequate standard of living for households supporting New Zealand’s 1.1 million children.

Read the full response below.