MP v Attorney-General - [2022] 2 NZLR 632

Family law — Adoption — Registration of births and adoptions — Purposive interpretation — Apparent gap regarding registration of birth for Hague Convention Adoptions not previously registered — “Is registered” to be read “is or is to be registered” — No obligation to notify Registrar-General of an overseas adoption — “The information” is information in fact received by the Registrar-General — Birth registered at actual time and place as if adoptive parents natural parents — Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption arts 4, 23, 26 and 27.

Family law — Adoption — Registration of births and adoptions — Overseas adoption — Parents choose the name in which birth is to be registered in New Zealand — Order converting simple adoption to full adoption is the adoption that the Registrar-General is to register — Court may confirm names specified by adoptive parents at same time — Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 1995 ss 24 and 25.

Evidence — Proof of foreign law — Thai law regarding full or simple adoption — Question of fact — Onus on Attorney-General — Seeking to set aside Family Court order — Article 23 certificate did not establish full adoption — Article 23 certificate was consent to facilitate becoming a full adoption under New Zealand law — Family Court order required — Evidence Act 2006 s 144.