Section 118 — Care of Children Act 2004: Preventing removal of child to defeat application

118 Preventing removal of child to defeat application (1) This section applies to a High Court Judge or District Court Judge or Family Court Judge who is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person is about to take a child out of New Zealand with intent to, or in circumstances where the taking of the child out of New Zealand would be likely to,— (a) defeat the claim of a person who has made, or is about to make, an application under section 103 or section 105 or section 113 ; or (b) prevent an order under section 105(2) from being complied with. (2) A Judge to whom this section applies— (a) may exercise, in respect of that child, the power referred to in section 77(3)(a) ; and (b) may exercise, in respect of that child, or the person believed to be about to take the child out of New Zealand, or both, the power referred to in section 77(3)(b) ; and (c) may, whether or not the power referred to in paragraph (a) has been exercised (with or without the exercise of the power referred to in paragraph (b) ), make an order of the kind referred to in section 77(3)(c) in respect of that child. (3) If a power referred to in subsection (2)(a) or (b) or (c) is exercised, section 77(4) and (5) , so far as applicable and with all necessary modifications, applies accordingly. (4) A Registrar of the High Court or of a District Court (not being a member of the police) may exercise the power given by this section (which applies with all necessary modifications), but only if no High Court Judge or District Court Judge or Family Court Judge is available. Compare: 1991 No 19 s 25