Disputes Tribunal NZ Claim Form: How to File Online or on Paper

The Disputes Tribunal claim form looks straightforward, but the online portal has a few traps that catch first-time filers. The biggest one: it doesn't save your progress. If your session times out, everything you've typed disappears.

Here's how to file — online or on paper — without losing your work.

Filing Online

The Ministry of Justice runs the online filing portal at disputestribunal.govt.nz. The process has four stages:

1. Authentication. You'll need a RealMe login or an authorised Ministry of Justice user account. If you don't already have RealMe verified, set that up first — it can take a few days.

2. Narrative fields. The form asks for your contact details, the respondent's details, a chronological summary of the dispute, your financial loss calculation, and the remedy you're requesting. This is where the session-timeout problem hits hardest.

Draft your narrative in a separate document before you open the portal. Write out the full chronology, the exact dollar amount you're claiming, and what you want the Referee to order. When you're ready, copy and paste each section into the portal fields. That way a timeout costs you five minutes of re-pasting, not an hour of rewriting.

3. Evidence upload. Attach supporting documents in PDF or JPG format. The portal enforces a 5 MB per-file limit, which is tighter than it sounds — a few high-resolution photos can exceed it easily. Compress images beforehand, or combine multiple pages into a single PDF.

4. Payment. Filing fees are paid immediately by Visa or Mastercard. Once payment goes through, the system issues a filing receipt and sends your application to the Central Processing Unit for allocation.

Filing on Paper

If you don't have internet access or prefer paper, download the claim form (PDF, 624 KB) and the companion filing guide (PDF, 221 KB) from the Disputes Tribunal website.

You need three complete sets: one original and two copies of everything — the claim form itself and all attached evidence.

Submit by post to:

Ministry of Justice CPU SX10042 Wellington

Or lodge the forms at the public counter of any District Court. Counter payments accept EFTPOS, credit card, debit card, or cash.

Paper filing takes longer because your application has to be physically processed, but the end result is identical.

What to Include in the Claim Narrative

Whether you file online or on paper, the narrative section carries the weight of your application. Keep it factual and chronological:

• Who: your full legal name and the respondent's exact legal name (not their trading name — check the Companies Office register if the respondent is a company)
• What: what the agreement or transaction was, what went wrong, and how much you lost
• When: dates of the transaction, the breach, your attempts to resolve it, and your demand letter
• How much: the specific dollar amount you're claiming, broken down if it includes multiple items (original cost, repair quotes, consequential losses)

Avoid emotional language. The Referee reads dozens of these — a clear, factual summary with dates and dollar amounts is far more persuasive than three pages of frustration.

Common Mistakes That Delay Your Claim

Wrong respondent name. If you're claiming against a business, use the registered company name from the Companies Office — not the trading name on their van or website. An order against the wrong legal entity can be unenforceable.

Exceeding the upload limit. The 5 MB cap per file catches applicants who try to upload raw phone photos or multi-page scans. Resize images, merge documents, and check file sizes before you start the portal session.

Missing the demand letter. A written demand is not a statutory filing requirement, but it documents an attempt to resolve the issue. The Tribunal still decides whether a genuine dispute exists; an unanswered letter alone does not establish one. Send a demand before filing when practical and keep proof of delivery.

The complete step-by-step guide covers every stage from demand letter through to enforcement, including an offline application drafting worksheet that lets you prepare everything before touching the portal.

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