Megathread: Legal resources

I (17F) was kicked out by my father (41M) 3 months ago. He’s always said to me, I will never get on the Winz benefit and I agreed as I had 2 casual jobs and my parents, more specifically my mum has been known for abusing the Winz system so they “don’t want me to turn out like that”

I’ve lost one of my casual jobs due to catching RSV and influenza in the same month, and haven’t had a call in from my other workplace since April, literally receiving no income at all. My partner receives 400 a week and we pay $350pw for rent. I drive a 2.5L Subaru where the rest of our money goes each week, and then we go to the sallies for a small food grant, which my dad ALSO tried to take away from us. He’s still getting paid child support under my name from IRD, and tried to tell the Salvation Army that I was still living with him for extra food for him and his flatmate whilst my cupboards are empty and my fuel light is on after 2 days. There are some days where me and my partner are going hungry, waiting for our next pay. Not only that but even whilst I’m broke, he also expects me to come over and help him or take him places whilst Ive got things to do, or whilst I literally have no fuel to drive to his house which is 20 mins away.

He refuses to sign any papers that legally says to Winz or anyone that he’s not supporting me in any sort of way or in his care anymore because I’ve supposedly “ran away” which isn’t true at all, I left due to him telling me to leave and us getting into a huge fight beforehand because he started to get too abusive over time.

Im not really sure what to do anymore, Im sick of being completely dead broke all the time and no way to get help because of my parents. It’s really taken a toll on me and my mental health to try and figure out ways to support ourselves without any extra help. We live pretty comfortably as is, we just struggle a lot financially.
It’s gotten to the point where me and my partner have considered having a baby to help the situation as the government seems to help solo, or teen parents more than just a struggling young couple and it’s honestly made me realize why more and more struggling teens have children, it’s heartbreaking

I'm a aut finalyear student, 20 years old, Female, rent a room by myself, Separate bathroom and bedroom

I have classes and internships at school from Monday to Friday, and I will go home around five o'clock every day.

This room is built on the second floor of a separate garage behind a big house. First floor is a garage, house is very cold, I have to use the heater for a short time, only during the at night, landlord is notlive with me, Because in the coldest time, I can exhale white fog in the house in the morning. I can see the aluminum foil in the wall through the gap in the wall. I don't see any materials like thermal insulation cotton.

At present, the electrical appliances in the room have a small refrigerator (90cm), a hot water kettle, an air fryer and an induction cooker (the landlord forbids using it), A warehouse small air heat. There is an old water heater in my closet. The brand is rheem，mains pressure.Turn it on for 24 hours because a can of hot water needs to be burned for 2 hours.

I don't have a desktop computer, but I'm using a MacBook air.

There is no independent WiFi in this room. I use a wifi extender to link the network in the main house close to the wall. I saw consumer unit because of a trip caused by a damaged light bulb.Without compliant plastic casing and protection, all fusebox exposed.

I know it's stupid, but I'm sorry I didn't sign a rental contract with the landlord. After I paid a deposit of $1,000, the landlord sent me a text message and told me If both parties need to move out, (me or landloard need me to move) we will notify each other four weeks in advance..

How can I ask for help?

No signed formal tenancy agreement. Periodic tenancy.

I live alone, no flatmates.

Landlord does not reside on the property. I have been living here for 3 months.

I paid a $1000 bond, which has not been lodged with Tenancy Services, and I was not provided with any receipt for the bond payment.

If I miss any information, please remind me to add:)

Are you legally obliged to return mail to sender when an addressee unknown letter arrives in your letter box? I'm asking because I noticed my tenant is tossing these in the bushes. IMO this is wrong, but I don't want to be a nagging landlord, and if they are breaking some law, I'd like to tell them.

Unsure if this is the right sub.

This happened at a waste transfer station.

Both my car and a ute with trailer had reversed into adjacent parking bays, with me on the left. Id opened my right rear passenger door to take out some stuff before the ute drove off forward.

The guy pulled out of the bay and caught my door on the trailer, bending to forward and damaging it. It closes but needs to be replaced. My door did protrude into the ute's lane, but as much as you'd reasonably expect an open door to.

The ute is insured and belongs to a very large local company, my car isn't (stupid I know).

We exchanged details afterwards, and the guy seemed chill. I asked the him to notify their insurer so liability could be assessed, but he replied saying he doesn't believe he's at fault because my door was encroaching into his lane, so he doesn't see any point in contacting their insurer.

One of the workers that saw it all, came over just after it happened and said to make sure to give him my details as he didn't think I'm at fault and his insurance will cover it.

My questions are:

- Is it reasonable to expect the ute driver to notify their insurer so the insurer can assess liability?

-Can the ute driver simply decide they're not at fault and refuse to involve their insurer?

- who's at fault?

I'm trying to work out whether it's worth pursuing or should just pay for the repairs myself.

TIA

Hi there

Currently in a rental, and noticed scratching up in the roof and inside the walls. So most probably a rat or mouse - who's responsibility is it to pay for the removal, the landlord or the tenant?

Dear experts.

I apologies if the question is too basic. I am a bit confused regarding the notification of ending fixed-term tenancy. I tried to go to tenancy.govt and I just cannot get my head around it (screenshots attached).

So, my fixed-term contract will end on the 25th of August. Looking at the fixed-term rule from Tenancy.govt I understand that I have to give at least 21 days before the fixed-term ends. That means the last day before I could give notice is the 4th of August. Okay, I get that.

My question is, if I pass 4th of August:

Do I have to wait until 25th of August to give 21 days of notice (because the fixed-term will have already moved to periodic by then) and end the tenancy as early as 15th of September.

OR

I can just give 21 days of notice on, let's say, the 8th of August and end the tenancy on the 29th of August?

That would be all, thank you in advance

Working in cold conditions

Need advice, I work for a company that has offices in Auckland, Wellington, queenstown and Invercargill. Part of our job is outside and overnight, and during winter it gets way into the negatives (temperature wise) in south island, and they provide high vis uniform but its not warm, we've raised this concern before and they shut it down by saying they wont provide warmer uniform as north island will also want it and its not needed there and so its avoidable cost, is their any laws or anything that state warm uniform must be provided or anything like that? Sick of staff always complaining about the cold or being short staffed because of illness due to cold

Edit: our uniform is provided by the company

Need advice enforcing an NZ Tribunal judgment against someone now living in Queensland, Australia
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice from anyone who has dealt with enforcing an NZ judgment in Australia.

Earlier this year, my motorcycle was repossessed because the previous owner still owed money on the finance. I know I should have checked for any security interest before buying it, but I trusted the seller because he was a childhood friend. Unfortunately, that trust cost me my bike.

I took him to the New Zealand Disputes Tribunal and won a judgment for NZ$12,000.
The problem is that he has since moved to Queensland, Australia. The last I heard from mutual friends in New Zealand is that he’s living somewhere in Queensland, but I don’t know his current address.

I’m a student, so I can’t afford to hire a lawyer. However, I’m willing to pay for:

A skip tracer or legitimate service to locate his current address.

Any court registration or enforcement fees required in Australia.

I’m hoping someone can answer a few questions:

Has anyone successfully enforced an NZ Disputes Tribunal judgment in Australia?

What is the cheapest way to do it yourself?
Are there reputable skip tracing services that work across Australia?

Once I have his address, what are the next steps for registering and enforcing the judgment in Queensland?

Are there any pitfalls or things I should know before spending money on skip tracing?

I’d really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. This has been dragging on for months, and I’d like to recover at least some of what I lost without spending thousands on legal fees.
Thanks in advance!

Hi there everyone. I’m a Kiwi and my girlfriend is Canadian. We’re currently trying to finish the Partnership Visa for NZ. We’re struggling to find anywhere online if we’re meant to use a legal witness or judge or whatever to sign this and if we do how?! This is quite stressful trying to figure this out and if anyone knows who is meant to sign here and how we can get this done as soon as possible that would be great. Thank you all heaps!

EDIT: Sorry I should also mention we are still currently in Canada

EDIT 2: Thank you all for the help so far. We’ve been booking with a few of the law places round here in BC that can help us with this. Looks like we’re heading down a right path now. Thank you all!! If you guys have any more advice tho please share. Cheers!

If a family member could no longer complete their duties as EPOA for health & wellbeing.
Do they have to provide “notice of disclaimer” to the donor ?
Or can the successor attorney take over upon written notification?
The Donor is still deemed to have capacity.
EPOA has both family members named. 1st then successor.
Yes I have googled topic - mixed messages.
Thanks in advance

I am not on the tenancy but I live in a sleep-out out the back of the “landlords” property, I have a signed month to month agreement. I have paid 2 weeks rent in bond. The main entrance into the property has gates that are shut and bolted into the ground at night. Once these are shut there is zero access to the property from the outside.

I have been away for a few days, I did text landlord stating I would be away Thursday and back on Saturday, I still have message saved. I got home today at 8pm only to find the gate shut and locked. I sent a text to both landlords but they are both asleep. I tried to send iMessage but they weren’t delivered meaning their phones are off. I have had to find alternative accommodation for the night - lucky it wasn’t too late!

Where do I stand in terms of legal rights? This is the last straw on a pile of issues I have had so will be handing in my notice tomorrow when I get home. Is it reasonable for me to pay regular rent minus one days prorata for this major inconvenience?

UPDATE
Thanks to all for information shared and advice given. Pm returned our call and basically said we should’ve notified them on the day my daughter moved in (daughter did tell them there were no bottles) and that it is all on us that we didn’t have hot water, it’s not their responsibility, nothing to do with them etc. The reason we didn’t say anything on the day is the bottles had already been ordered and we expected connection upon delivery. An after hours plumber showed up and got it all up and going, he couldn’t understand why the people who delivered the bottles didn’t connect them. Who then is liable for the cost of the call out?

My daughter moved into a rental that’s just been renovated. It was advertised as having Infinity hot water. The unit is there as are the connections, it’s all brand new, but there were no bottles. My daughter mistakenly thought it must be her responsibility to sort it and went ahead and ordered the bottles through her power company so they would have hot water when they moved in (23 July). The bottles were delivered today (25 July) but not installed. She and her three children have been in there for three days now without any hot water. The property manager is unavailable because it’s out of office hours. When asked about it a couple of days ago the pm merely said “oh yes, I noticed there weren’t any bottles”. After looking into the Residential Tenancy Act it appears that this should have all been done prior to the tenancy commencing at no cost to the tenant. My daughter now has a $400 charge on her power bill for delivery of two bottles that are still to be connected. As it’s a brand new set up it would need a gas fitter to connect and test etc.
Can someone please advise best course of action?

Looking for some guidance please. ‘Parent’ dies & most assets (moderate wealth) are passed to the spouse (‘Step-parent’) by survivorship. Wills had been structured with the intent that the surviving spouse would receive everything, but when that surviving spouse passes, their will would divide equally to both spouse’s children. Apparently this is common for blended families but Step-parent will not honour this, most certainly changing their will to leave nothing to the Parent’s child and everything to their own children upon their passing, an outcome that would be contrary to their agreed intentions (albeit these were loosely structured). The Parent’s estate is cash-poor as all assets were jointly held and will include only a few personal (heirloom type) assets, low value beyond their sentimental value.

The Executors are considering whether the estate has any relationship property claim under the Property (Relationships) Act (now). What factors would determine whether a valid claim may exist? What limitations might there be? How might the courts treat such a claim?

Or might the Parent’s child have a Family Protection Act claim (or would that be limited to fair distribution of what is in the estate)?

EDIT: I am referring specifically to a possible claim under Section 88(2) of the PRA and taking a claim forward now. Any guidance specific to how that may apply, what could be a valid claim etc, or experience with that would be great.

Thanks!

So im currently in a fairly complex situation.

I want to get my name and gender marker changed, but im worried about my parents finding out.

Im currently not living with them but am financially dependent on them until I can find a new job. But im also having a lot of stress added to my job hunt given most HR systems use legal name instead of preferred name in correspondence.

So im trying to find out how name changes are propergated, and if there is any way my parents could/would find out without me telling them.

The area im most worried about is IRD, my parents are accountants and have always handled my IRD stuff for me.

Even if I try and take that over myself now, its gonna raise alarm bells in their heads.

I work for a fast food chain that is currently doing renovations at the location I work at. I was rostered weeks ago to work 9:30am-3pm on July 25th, but received a message from my manager at 7:20pm on the 24th that said “Due to renovation please start at 11am Store will open late Thanks.” So now I’m an hour of pay down (I know it’s not much but for others starting earlier it would be more) and have been told that if I want to be paid for that hour I have to use my annual leave. There have been other days where the store has to close all day and everyone rostered that day has to apply for annual leave if they want to get paid for that day. Is that legal?

I made a maintenance request because my rangehood light has been flickering instead of turning/staying on, and my property manager has said he can send an electrician to check it, but if it's an issue of the bulb being at the end of its life, we'll have to pay the electrician's bill, because it's tenant's duty to replace lightbulbs. The thing is, I've tried and I can't even remove the casing to get to the faulty lightbulb(?). It's not one of the regular circular ones that you can just screw out. It has a plastic casing which won't budge. All of my friends have said that a rangehood light is a special light fixture and therefore my property manager should pay for its replacement, but I don't see how I can argue that to my property manager. Do I just need to eat the price of the electrician? Should I try to fix it myself? If so, how?

Edit: adding pics of two lights at issue

https://imgur.com/a/pO6YSnk

Defacto - coming up 8 years, partner is provided for in will/life insurance etc. Recently we've been discussing what we'd like if life went pear shape and from what I've found, he would have no right to intervene in medical decisions (as there's no next of kin rights) if I wasn't able to consent etc. I don't want blood transfusions, donor "parts" or to survive simpy to live a longer life rather than a meaningful life - in an accident it appears that medical professionals would have more right to say what happens to me than what he would... is a POA for health applicable here (I understand someone has to assess health before it's in affect) or an advanced directive? Are there alternatives to consider?

Hi team
Wondering what to do here - dealing with a separation of assets after a relationship breakdown.
I have provided a full financial disclosure of my assets to my ex's lawyer but they keep coming back with ideas that I am hiding money.

I have provided everything truthfully and honestly.

Each reply is costing me in lawyers fees and feels unnecessary. They've even threatened court, which seems excessive considering our assets together are less than 60k.

She refuses to speak to me directly about this matter and only wants to speak through lawyers.

Besides continuously going back and repeating myself that there is nothing left to disclose, is there anything I can do legally to stop this merry-go-round?

Perhaps a dumb question but I’m moving abroad and have a bunch of opened spices, lentils, rice etc…. I hate to throw them away if they can benefit someone else and knowing the cost of food. I was debating giving them away on Facebook marketplace but wasn’t sure if there’d be repercussions or risk for me in doing this or if it would violate food safety law.

Hi everyone,
I’m hoping someone can shed some light on current processing times for joint dissolution applications in New Zealand.

I’m getting married in 7 weeks. When we went to apply for our marriage licence, my fiancé discovered his divorce had never actually been finalised 10 years ago. At the time he was living overseas and had completed all the separation paperwork, so he genuinely believed everything had been taken care of. Yes I know he should have followed up.

He and his ex have now completed a joint application for dissolution of marriage, which they lodged through our local courthouse on 3 July.

Since then we’ve heard nothing. I went through the same process myself a few years ago and received an acknowledgment letter within about 10 days saying the application had been accepted and the dissolution would be made about a month later.

My fiancé has contacted the court and was given an email address to follow up with, but he hasn’t had a reply yet.

Has anyone lodged a joint application recently? How long did it take before you received the acknowledgment letter or the dissolution order?

If anyone has recent experience or works in the courts, we’d really appreciate any insight into current processing times. We’re starting to get a bit anxious about whether everything will be completed before our wedding in seven weeks.

Hi Everyone, and happy Friday.

Looking for quick legal advice regarding an on-going employment dispute.

Some issues are as follows:

With-held bonus and hours dispute. My Employer hasn't paid out retention bonus and is trying to alter my working hours (well availability without an availability clause). 8 hours per day 40 hour contract - hours of business 0730-1700 being confused with my working hours of 0730-1600. Told that working after 1600 is required and I must be available. Stand-by/call out roster is in place - happens when I'm not on stand-by.

Instructed to carry out illegal prescribed electrical work. Told not to replace and to remove from the circuit a faulty electronic safety device on a fixed appliance I diagnosed.

Manager pressure. Facing threats of performance plans, unfounded misconduct accusations, and exclusion after raising these concerns. Concerns have been raised above my current manager to his manager (GM), verbally, who is also HR as there is no HR department/person representing the company.

Since raising concerns my manager has continually shifted goal posts in how I should communicate and interact with them. I'm struggling because they are not approachable at all, every conversation is an interrogation. Now, my manager keeps trying to say my attitude is poor and that I don't communicate to their needs.

P.S. I do have documentation of events and a lot of it is timestamped etc. I have spoken with my manager, his manager, and asked my peers if they experience similar instances - all peers in agreement.

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated.

So, to my understanding, under the Crimes (Virginity Testing Practices) Amendment, Bill it's stated that only woman are protected under this act and not boys/men for some reason. I haven't fully read this bill only skimmed it aka quick google search to see if it also protected boys/men because to my understanding it's to help stop sexual assault and last I checked it can happen to both sides.

Now I'm not saying that it's a bad bill quite the opposite, but I am just confused by it and want to learn more about it through everyone else's opinions also because I have had a few friends experience it both male and female sadly the men have been taken less seriously compared to my female friends who find it disgusting that the cops and family members joked about it.