Interrogatories — dowry — marriage contract — Property (Relationships) Act 1976 — Family Court Rules 2002, rr 160 & 137 — District Court Rules 2014, rr 8.34 to 8.44 — BNZ v Gardner (1990) 2 PRNZ 278. The issue for the Court to determine was whether interrogatories were to be answered. The applicant wife and the first respondent husband married in 2006 and separated in 2015. From the wife's perspective there were two main relationship property assets in contention — a business worth $250,000 and dowry worth $112,500. The wife believed evidence about the state of the parties’ marriage, and information regarding various bank transfers, were highly relevant to issues between the parties because steps were taken to defeat her interest in relationship property. The wife sought interrogatories to be answered in order to to establish whether she had an interest in the business. The process for dealing with interrogatories in the Family Court is governed by r 137, and additional principles in "BNZ v Gardener", which stated: that interrogatories are aimed at getting the truth, relevant to the issues of the case, are designed to help parties focus on the real issues, will be oppressive if the interrogatories are unreasonable, can seek to establish an admission of fact in some circumstances; and noted that the fact that information is within the knowledge of the party does not make them vexatious. The Court went through the interrogatories and ultimately found that some were allowed and some were not based on relevance, appropriateness; or whether they were onerous, oppressive and unnecessary. Orders were made stipulating when interrogatories needed to be completed. Judgment Date: 23 April 2018 * * * Note: Names have been changed to comply with legal requirements * * *