As from March 1, 2014, sweeping changes were made to the New Zealand Family Court processes.

Parents who are separating and are unable to reach agreement on the care arrangements for their children will need to attend both the Parenting Through Separation Course and Family Dispute Resolution before they can make an application to the Family Court.

The Parenting Through Separation programme is a very helpful programme and provides advice for parents about how the separation may be affecting their children and on ways to ensure that the children's needs are supported at the time when parents are separating.

Legal advice for parents at this time can be very important and is available through family lawyers.

If a parent is on a low income they may be eligible to receive legal advice and from lawyers who have a contract with the Ministry of Justice.

A funding eligibility calculator is available on the Ministry of Justice web site www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice

If the parents are not eligible for government funding they can contact any family lawyer and will have to pay for that advice themselves.

Family Dispute Resolution involves two parts.

The first is an assessment as to whether or not it is appropriate for the parents to be offered Family Dispute Resolution.

In circumstances such as where there has been serious violence an exemption from attendance at FDR will be given by the Family Dispute Resolution Provider.

If the result of the assessment is that FDR should be offered then the Provider will arrange mediation.

The provider can also arrange for one or both parents to attend preparatory counselling if either or both the parents want to have some counselling to prepare themselves for mediation.

Preparatory counselling is free for parents who are eligible for government funded service. It is available for parents who are not funded on the basis they will need to meet the cost of the counselling.

Parents can choose an FDR Provider from the list of Providers on the Ministry of Justice website www.justice.govt.nz/family-justice

If one of the parents is eligible for government funded FDR then the provider must be contracted to a supplier of funded FDR services.

FairWay Resolution Limited [FairWay] is a supplier which has contracted mediation service providers in the Bay of Plenty to provide FDR.

Anyone who wants to have FDR may contact either a Provider chosen from the Ministry of Justice List of Providers or may also contact FairWay on 0800 774 420 or email fdr@fairwayresolution.com

Further information can be obtained from the Ministry of Justice website or through the Ministry of Justice brochure which is available on the Ministry of Justice website or through Lawyers and Community Law centres.

Under the new regime, if you are a parent wanting to resolve parenting issues then you will need to follow the new process which will generally include:-