Application for leave to vary parenting order — application for permission to relocate — whether leave is required to apply for permission to relocate — Care of Children Act 2004, ss 46R & 139A. The court had before it two leave applications, one from each parent. The father sought permission to relocate with the child to a different city in New Zealand. The court considered whether the father required leave to apply to relocate as the order would substantially change the framework for the child's care. The court adopted a common sense approach to the interpretation of s 139A and found that it was engaged and therefore the application was deemed to be one that sought to vary the existing parenting order. The court found that a relocation would substantially change the framework of the parenting order and that leave was accordingly required for the application to be made. The mother sought leave to vary parenting orders that existed in respect of her contact with the child. The court noted that had the application stood on it's own and not been coupled with the father's application, that the considerations may have been different. The court found that, because of the complete breakdown of the existing parenting order and the father's application to relocate with the child, leave should be granted to allow the mother to seek to vary the parenting order. Leave was accordingly given to the father to apply for a guardianship direction; and to the mother to apply to parenting the contact provisions in the parenting order. Judgment Date: 31 March 2016. * * * Note: Names have been changed to comply with legal requirements * * *