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The Court of Appeal has handed down a significant decision that will encourage confidence for victims of domestic violence, who apply to the Family Court for a protection order.

Previously, under the Limitation Act 1950 ("the 1950 Act") claims to recover money owing under a deed or mortgage, had to be brought within twelve years of the money falling due for repayment. However under the Limitation Act 2010 ("the 2010 Act"), this has been reduced to a limitation period of six years.

The High Court, in Broadbent v The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development [2017] NZHC 1499 (a test case), has told the Ministry of Social Development that it is not correctly applying the means testing assessment for income when determining someone's eligibility for a residential-care subsidy.

It is common knowledge that when a married couple in New Zealand gets divorced, they, generally speaking, get half each of all the property owned by the parties. In New Zealand this asset division also extends to de facto relationships of more than three years, but what is a de facto relationship? A marriage is easy to identify: there is a wedding, someone cuts the cake, there is usually an adorable child in charge of the rings and most importantly, a legal document; a marriage certificate which says you are married. However, de facto relationships are not so easy to identify.

The truism that charity begins at home might have been given a serious knock back going by the recent UK Supreme Court decision concerning an adult daughter's claim against her mother's estate in IIott v Mitson [2017] UKSC 17.