McKenzie Friend Professionals Limited
Stressed about family court? Anxious, unsure about what to do? Get an Accredited McKenzie Friend Professional on your side.
McKenzie Friend Professionals Limited
Stressed about family court? Anxious, unsure about what to do? Get an Accredited McKenzie Friend Professional on your side.
Three ways we help you through the Family Court. A one to one course, the guidebook PDF, or an Accredited McKenzie Friend working with you.
The one to one course
A full day, 10am to 4pm, with an Accredited McKenzie Friend, working on your own case so you can run it yourself. The ten-module programme and the guidebook are included as PDFs.
$750 plus GST
About the courseThe guidebook PDF
Our guide to the Family Court, to read at your own pace and use to take control of your case.
$25 plus GST
Buy the guidebookAn Accredited McKenzie Friend
Works on your case with you and can sit beside you in court, at about 60% less than a lawyer.
By consultation
About McKenzie Friend services$750 plus GST, programme and guidebook PDFs included
A full day, 10am to 4pm, working one to one with an Accredited McKenzie Friend on your own Family Court case. Bring your case files. We work through how you can best represent yourself on court day: your strategy, court procedure, and running an effective case both outside and inside the courtroom.
Because it is one to one, the whole day is about your case. You also get the ten-module programme and the guidebook as PDFs at no extra cost.
This is training, not legal advice.
$25 plus GST
This is an excellent guidebook for anyone in the Family Court who wants to take control of their case, and their lawyer if they have one. It comes as a PDF, included free with the one to one course or bought on its own online, with the download link emailed to you straight away.
The day draws on the same ten modules our Accredited McKenzie Friends train on. Because it is one to one, we tailor them to your case and spend the most time on the parts that matter for your court day. You keep the full programme as a PDF.
You also work through the forms you need when you bring a McKenzie Friend to court, known as a lay assistant, including the undertakings, the code of conduct and non disclosure.
A McKenzie Friend is a support person who sits beside you in court when you represent yourself. In the Family Court they are also known as a lay assistant.
The name comes from McKenzie v McKenzie, a Family Court case in England in the 1970s. Mr McKenzie represented himself and brought a support person, but the judge would not let that person sit beside him. Mr McKenzie lost and appealed, and the higher court ruled the judge had been wrong.
That decision confirmed two rights that apply in New Zealand and most Commonwealth countries. You are entitled to represent yourself, and you are entitled to bring a support person when you do.
A McKenzie Friend is not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice. They can give you moral support, take notes, help with your case papers and quietly make suggestions while the hearing runs. Their notes can matter later too, if you need to appeal.
You do not have to be without a lawyer to have one. Many people use a McKenzie Friend to prepare their files and documents for their lawyer, which keeps legal fees down, and to help them instruct their lawyer well.
An Accredited McKenzie Friend is trained in advocacy and trial management, and in the strategy that matters at judicial settlement conferences, where many Family Court cases are resolved before a hearing.
By consultation
An Accredited McKenzie Friend will be assisting you in your case preparation and can appear with you at court. Alternatively they can help you work with your lawyer if you have one.
A McKenzie Friend can provide moral support, take notes, help with case papers and make suggestions quietly to you in court. They cannot give legal advice, but they can help keep your legal fees down by helping with work both inside and outside the courtroom.
You have three choices.
Send us an enquiry and Vinay will help you work out which is right for you.
All prices are GST exclusive, so GST is added on. The guidebook can be bought online. For the course and McKenzie Friend services, send us an enquiry and we will come back to you.
Yes. Representing yourself is a legal right in New Zealand courts, including the Family Court. The Family Court has forms you fill in to say you are representing yourself and bringing a support person.
A McKenzie Friend is a support person who helps you when you represent yourself in court. They can give moral support, take notes, help with case papers and quietly make suggestions, but they are not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice.
Not as of right. You have the right to address the court when you represent yourself, but your McKenzie Friend does not. If you need them to speak, you apply to the judge and give your reasons.
Yes. Many people use a McKenzie Friend alongside a lawyer, to prepare files and documents for the lawyer, keep legal fees down, and help them instruct their lawyer well.
The Family Court application to have a lay assistant, and the lay assistant undertakings. Our Accredited McKenzie Friends make sure these are filed 3 days before your case is called.
Judges have a duty to make sure self-representing parties understand their rights and the court procedures, and they tend to make allowances for people without a lawyer. If you do not understand something, you can ask the judge to clarify it.
In some circumstances, yes. Self-representing parties can now claim costs if they win. If you lose and face a costs order, you should be prepared to argue against heavy penalties.
The 1-Day Self Representing Program is $750 plus GST. It runs one to one from 10am to 4pm and includes the ten-module programme and the guidebook as PDFs. The guidebook PDF on its own is $25 plus GST.
No. It is training to help you represent yourself, focused on your own case. It is not legal advice, and neither Vinay nor our Accredited McKenzie Friends act as your lawyer.
They are arranged by consultation, because every case is different. As a guide, working with an Accredited McKenzie Friend typically costs about 60% less than being fully represented by a lawyer. Send us an enquiry and Vinay will contact you to talk it through.
You can buy the guidebook online. For the course and McKenzie Friend services no payment is taken online, so send us an enquiry and we will come back to you. All prices are GST exclusive, so GST is added on.
Tell us about your situation and Vinay will contact you.
Send an enquiry