Parenting Order vs Guardianship NZ: Which One Do You Need?

They Sound Similar but Cover Different Ground

Under the Care of Children Act 2004, "custody" doesn't exist any more. What used to be custody is now split into two distinct legal concepts: day-to-day care (who the child lives with) and guardianship (who makes the big decisions). Most grandparents need both — and understanding the difference saves you from filing the wrong application or discovering six months in that you can't consent to the child's medical treatment.

What a Parenting Order Covers

A parenting order under Section 48 of COCA determines:

• Day-to-day care — the child lives with you. You handle the daily routine: meals, bedtime, homework, school pickup.
• Contact — the schedule for another person (usually the parent) to spend time with the child. Contact can be in-person, by phone, or video.

A parenting order does not give you guardianship. You can have a child living with you under a parenting order and still lack the legal authority to:

• Consent to medical treatment or surgery
• Enrol the child in a new school
• Apply for or renew the child's passport
• Authorise overseas travel
• Change the child's name
• Make decisions about religious upbringing

For all of these, you need the consent of the child's guardians — usually the biological parents.

What Guardianship Covers

Guardianship under Section 15 and 16 of COCA covers the major life decisions listed above. Under Section 16(2), all guardians must consult each other and try to agree on:

• Changes to the child's name
• Relocation that would significantly affect another guardian's contact
• Major medical or surgical treatment
• Schooling and language of instruction
• Religious and cultural upbringing

Guardianship is about authority, not residence. A parent can be a guardian without having day-to-day care — and a grandparent can have day-to-day care without being a guardian.

The Practical Problem

Here's where it matters. Your grandchild falls and breaks an arm at school. The hospital needs consent for treatment. You're the primary caregiver under a parenting order, but you're not a guardian. Legally, the hospital should seek consent from the child's guardian — the parent — even if that parent hasn't seen the child in two years.

The same issue arises at the GP, the dentist, when enrolling in a new school, and at the passport office.

When You Need Both

If you're raising a grandchild full-time and the parents are unable or unwilling to be involved in daily decision-making, you need both:

1. A parenting order (Section 48) for day-to-day care
2. A guardianship order (Section 27) to be appointed as an additional guardian

You can apply for both in the same application pack, at the same time, for the same filing fee of NZ$257. There's no additional fee for the guardianship component.

When a Parenting Order Alone Is Enough

If you're seeking contact rather than day-to-day care — you want regular visits with your grandchild, for example, but they continue to live with a parent — a parenting order for contact is sufficient. You wouldn't need guardianship in that situation.

Similarly, if both parents are active guardians and reliably available to consent to decisions, a parenting order for day-to-day care might be enough in practice. But this relies on ongoing cooperation from the parents — which, if it existed reliably, you probably wouldn't be in court.

How the Applications Differ

Don't Wait to Find Out the Hard Way

The gap between care and guardianship is invisible until it isn't — until the school, the doctor or the passport office asks for proof of authority you don't have. If you're already raising a grandchild, applying for both orders together is the practical path.

Our NZ Parenting & Guardianship Orders guide explains both orders side by side, with a comparison table, the full application checklist, and worked examples showing when you need one, the other, or both.

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