Application for dissolution — "living apart" — COVID-19 restrictions — Family Proceedings Act 1980, ss 39 & 40 — McBride v McBride [1999] NZFLR 651 — SMMHD v KAHAG, FAMC Christchurch FAM-2010-009-1101, 17 January 2011. The applicant filed an application for dissolution of the parties' marriage. The respondent defended the application. The parties had married in early 2019 in India, and the applicant moved to New Zealand in late 2019. The respondent arrived in New Zealand in early 2023, having last seen the applicant in 2019 when she left for New Zealand. The parties then lived in the same house in New Zealand, along with another flatmate, but did not share a room. The applicant submitted that the parties agreed to separate when she went to New Zealand. At issue was whether the parties had been "living apart" for the requisite two-year period prior to the applicant filing the dissolution application. The Court took into consideration the fact that the parties had lived together in India prior to the applicant moving to New Zealand; the respondent's parents' financial support of the applicant; communications between the parties while they were living in different countries; financial transfers into a joint account; the difficulty in travel during the intervening period, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; the applicant's support of the respondent's visa application; and the fact that the parties had lived in the same home in New Zealand. The Court concluded on the balance of probabilities that it was not established that the parties had been living apart for the requisite period. The application for dissolution was dismissed. Judgment Date: 14 August 2024.