Downie Stewart lawyers commercial litigation property trusts Dunedin New Zealand

Family and Relationships 

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Our family law team provide advice in all areas of the law relating to separation, children, relationship property, child and spousal maintenance and claims against estates. The group has extensive experience in all aspects of family and relationship law, providing a confidential, sensitive and professional approach to what is often an emotional area.


Children 

• Day to day care arrangements
• Representation of children
• Adoption
• Custody
• Guardianship 
• Paternity
• Action under the Children & Young Persons and their Families Act
• Child abduction (domestic and international - Hague Convention)

Relationship Property (click here for more)

• Relationship property agreements (matrimonial and de facto agreements)
• Relationship property disputes (including complex situations involving businesses, farms or trusts)
• Pre-marital (or pre-nuptial) agreements
• Co-habitation contracts
• Family trusts
• Separation / dissolution of marriage
• Matrimonial litigation 
• Injunctions to prevent removal of assets overseas

Maintenance

• Child Support Act
• Spousal maintenance

Care of the Elderly and Disabled 

• Issues involving the aged or infirm
• Issues of mental health or capacity

Estate Claims 

• Family protection cases
• Testamentary promises claims
• Disputes over wills

Domestic Violence 

• Applications to the family court
• Setting aside orders
• Domestic protection

The best solutions are amicable ones. We have the knowledge and experience to achieve results through mediation - a less costly, less formal and often less stressful procedure than court proceedings. However, there are situations where court action is more appropriate and we are fully equipped to provide that service. 

Jim Guest leads our family and relationships team which also includes Gerard DeCourcy and Rhonda Harris.  Both Jim and Gerard have had their seniority recognised through regularly receiving instructions from the Family Court to independently represent the interests of children, and also the interests of people who are elderly or under a disability, in respect of whom applications have been made for management orders.   Rhonda specialises particularly in separation and relationship property.