Unfortunately, a loss of income does not automatically stop your child support obligations. If you are paying pursuant to a child support assessment you must notify Department of Human Services and advise of the change to your income without delay.
Generally, yes. Centrelink family assistance and child support payments are closely linked. You must apply for child support from the other parent by contacting Child Support to be eligible to receive more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A.
Normally child support stops when your child turns 18. If your child's in secondary study, you can apply to extend it to the end of the school year.
If you have a Child Support Case
If you have a child support debt we may issue a Departure Prohibition Order. It'll stop you from leaving Australia until you either: pay your debt in full. enter into an acceptable payment arrangement.
You can calculate the maximum child support amount using the combined income of both parents, up to 2.5 times the annual equivalent of the Male Total Average Weekly Earnings, as well as the Costs of Children Table.
In Australia shared custody means that the non-residential parent pays child support to the residential parent. In the case of a 50/50 split, the higher earner usually pays child support to the lower earner to ensure the children's standard of living is the same in both locations.
This means that child support payments are based on both parents' income and how much more the higher-earning parent makes, but there is no law that caps child support at any specific dollar amount.
50:50 care can also be considered naturally fair in financial terms. We know that parents with higher incomes tend to spend more on their children. So, in a 50:50 care situation, the parent with the higher income would normally spend more. That happens without the need for forced payments.
In Australia, parents are not imprisoned for failing to pay child support.
Under Australian law, separated parents (including same sex parents) have a duty to provide a proper level of financial support for their children. The scheme provides a flexible way of ensuring that children are supported by their parents, often with the assistance of government benefits.
Where you have a private arrangement in place, salary packaging will not generally have any impact on your child support payments. Salary packaging may impact the amount of benefit you receive from Centrelink, and other financial payments such as Child Support.
If you don't pay your child support in full and on time, we may apply penalties on the outstanding amount. You pay the penalty amount to the Australian Government, not to the receiving parent. If you pay the overdue child support, we may reduce or remove the penalty from your account.
Does Child Support Change if my ex-spouse remarries? No. Only the income of the parents of your children is taken into account in the assessment of your child support payments. Furthermore, a new spouse of a child support payer is not responsible for making child support payments.
Garnishing Bank Accounts
Services Australia is also able to apply to place a notice on bank accounts to recover unpaid child support where no payment arrangements are in place. This would mean that any significant funds in a payee parent's bank account may be collected to pay any outstanding arrears.
The most common arrangement is that the mother takes 66-84% custody of the child or children, while the father takes 14-34%.
In Australia, if you and the other parent cannot come to an agreement on custody, then either parent can apply to the court for a custodial order. Before making a decision, the court will need to be satisfied that such an order is in the best interests of the child.
Alternating weekends: A common 80/20 arrangement, the alternating-weekends schedule has the child live primarily with one parent and stay with the other parent every other weekend.
The Child Support Agency can use a Section 72A notice to gain access to superannuation in some limited circumstances.
We can be satisfied you are a legal parent of a child if at least one of the following applies: you were married to the other parent when the child was born. you're named on the child's birth certificate as a parent, it can be Australian or from a reciprocating jurisdiction. you're named in adoption papers as a parent.
A Court is the only body that can make an order for a stepparent to make child support payments if it is determined that it is proper for the stepparent to have that duty. However, a stepparent's duty is always secondary to the duty of biological parent to maintain the child.
A DPO is an international travel ban, which gives Border Force the power to stop a person who owes child support at the airport. DPOs are made administratively by the Department of Human Services (Child Support), without the need to go to Court.
You must declare your salary packaging benefit to Centrelink as 'Exempt Reportable Fringe Benefits', and contact Centrelink directly to update their records of your family income.
The impact of salary packaging on your entitlements or obligations does vary between government agencies. Salary packaging should not impact your Centrelink entitlements (compared to someone not salary packaging).