The usual formula assessment provisions do not take into account the child's personal income when calculating the rate of child support payable by a parent for that child. The Registrar cannot end a child support assessment because of the income earned by an eligible child.
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.
The income of your new partner or spouse does not affect child support you pay or receive. Child support is based only on the incomes of the children's' parents.
Child support scheme
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.
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.
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.
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.
Do you pay less child support if you have another child? Yes. Your assessment is based on the number of dependent children that you have. If you have a child with a new partner, then that new child is considered a dependent.
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.
What Does Child Support Not Cover in Australia? The child support amount in Australia is usually insufficient to fund costs such as extracurricular activities, private tuition fees, private health insurance and additional costs due to a child's special needs.
Additional expenses
Expenses such as private school fees, extracurricular activities and orthodontic treatment are not taken into account under the assessment. Parents with such expenses can apply to the Child Support Agency (CSA) for a change to the assessment based on the 'special circumstances' in their matter.
The Federal Budget 2023-24 will expand access to financial support by raising the age cut-off for the Parenting Payment (Single) from 8 to 14. Many single parents – overwhelmingly women – face difficulty balancing caring responsibilities and work. These difficulties do not end when their child turns eight.
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.
In Australia, there is no minimum age which a child can legally refuse to see a parent following divorce or separation. Of course, once children of divorce reach the age of 18 years they can make their own decisions about where they live or which parent they want to spend time with.
A mother cannot deny a father access to their children in Australia. There is a presumption of equal and shared parental responsibility. Only an order from a local court, Federal Circuit Court or Family Court of Australia would be able to stop a father from accessing their children in Australia.
The Child Support Agency can use a Section 72A notice to gain access to superannuation in some limited circumstances.
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.
Maximum support
The maximum child support payable is also known as the “cap”. The maximum child support is applied to the combined income of both parents up to 2.5 times the annual equivalent of all Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE) and calculated using the Costs of Children Table.
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.
In Australia, parents have a legal responsibility to financially support their children, whether they are biological, adoptive or same sex parents. Parents can make an agreement about child support or they can apply to the Services Australia (Child Support) for an administrative assessment.
The most common arrangement is that the mother takes 66-84% custody of the child or children, while the father takes 14-34%.