district court logo

Dickson v Kingsley [2016] NZFC 2192

Published 31 July 2016

Division of relationship property — Property (Relationships) Act 1976 — Family Courts Rules 2002, r 204 — clerical mistakes and slips. The Court was called upon to address errors contained in a judgment for the division of relationship property. The errors were corrected, and the division adjusted accordingly. The first issue was uncontentious, and the incorrectly stated figure was corrected under r 204 “Clerical mistakes and slips”. The second issue resulted from the Judge having established the total amount of a debt, but omitting to calculate the resulting interest sum for inclusion in the final division of property. The Judge noted that the Rules do not provide for recall of judgments as do the District Courts Rules and the High Court Rules. As a result, the Judge again relied on r 204 to correct the “error” arising from the “omission” rather than withdrawing the judgment and reissuing it in corrected form. The interest sum was calculated and included in the final division of the relationship property. **Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements.