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.
Does the income of my new partner affect the amount of child support I pay or receive? 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.
Do I pay child support if my child is working full time? If your child is working full time, you can apply for a change of assessment. This will allow the Registrar to consider whether the child support you have been assessed to pay should be amended as it is unfair or inequitable.
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.
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.
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.
Child support does not count as taxable income. Furthermore, how much child support you receive appears to have no significant tax consequences in Australia. Child support payments received can reduce Family Tax Benefit Part A.
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.
We can collect payments for you if the paying parent gets behind. We can collect overdue payments going back: up to 3 months in normal circumstances. up to 9 months in exceptional circumstances.
If a payee dies testate, the Registrar may disburse child support collected to the executor of the estate. If a payee dies intestate, a court application for Letters of Administration can be obtained (for a person to administer the estate) and child support collected can be disbursed to the administrator of the estate.
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.
Your parents or guardians may get maintenance income to support you or your siblings. If they do, this income may affect your payment. This includes child support or voluntary maintenance your parents or guardians get.
Both parents have an obligation to financially support their children until they are at least 18 years of age, even after separation. That legal obligation does not change when one or both parents repartner. A parent's new partner does not have a legal obligation to support another person's child.
Do both parents have to pay child support? All parents must contribute to the financial support of their children whether they were married, living in a de facto relationship or never lived together.
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.
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 Child Support Agency can use a Section 72A notice to gain access to superannuation in some limited circumstances.
Child support payments are not tax-deductible because they are not incurred in gaining or producing assessable income and are private or domestic in nature. The child support paid can be in either cash payments or non-cash items.
How your partner's income reduces your payment. Your payment will generally reduce by 60 cents for each dollar of income your partner has over $1,233 per fortnight. The point at which your payment reduces may be different depending on if your partner is either: under 22 years of age.
Parenting Payment is a taxable Centrelink payment.
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.