The minimum rate for child support periods starting on or after 1 January 2023 is $493 per year.
On the basic rate, if you're paying for: one child, you'll pay 12% of your gross weekly income. two children, you'll pay 16% of your gross weekly income. three or more children, you'll pay 19% of your gross weekly income.
We work out each parent's income percentage by dividing each income by the combined total. We calculate each parent's percentage of care. We work out each parent's cost percentage using the Care and Cost table. We subtract the cost percentage from the income percentage for each parent.
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.
How much you pay. The fixed rate for child support periods starting on or after 1 January 2023 is $1,632 per child per year. If you pay the fixed rate for more than 3 children, we'll cap the amount at 3 times the fixed rate.
See Your Children More
The single best thing for avoiding child support is to spend time with your children. How much you pay basically depends on how many nights per fortnight the children spend with you. If you have the kids 7 nights per fortnight, you're assumed to be covering 50% of their costs through direct care.
A parent may not withhold payment of maintenance if he or she is not allowed by the other parent to exercise his/her right of access to a child. The flip side of the coin is that a parent may not refuse the other parent access to a child when the latter does not contribute towards the maintenance of that child.
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.
The custodial parent will receive support if the care % is greater than 35% and the cost percentage is greater than his or her income. You will have to pay child maintenance if the care % is less than 65% and the income percentage exceeds the cost.
For the 2021-22 financial year, it's a payment of up to $788.40 for each eligible child. For the 2022-23 financial year, it's a payment of up to $817.60 for each eligible child.
The CMS considers a parent to share care if they look after the child at least one night a week on average. If your child's other parent cares for your child 52 nights a year or more, the amount of child maintenance you can receive is reduced. For child maintenance to be reduced, care must include an overnight stay.
If you have shared care for at least 52 nights a year, you don't need to pay any child maintenance.
The answer, quite simply, is yes. The law is gender-neutral and does not care whether the parent looking after a child every day is male or female. Therefore, single Dads are just as entitled to child support payments as mothers – as long as they are the resident parent: the one with whom the child lives each day.
Parents have a legal responsibility to provide financially for their children even if they no longer live with them. When child maintenance is paid it can make a significant difference to the lives of families.
Under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1973, a man is required to provide maintenance to his child and wife after divorce.
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 or the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court of Australia would be able to stop a father from accessing their children in Australia.
Can I get more child support if my ex remarries? No. Only the income of the mother and the father of your children is taken into account. So, even if your ex marries a millionaire, their income won't change your child support.
You will not be expected to pay anything through the Child Maintenance Service if you: Share care equally with the other parent. Are in full-time education with no income.
If a payor is seeking to quit their job simply to avoid paying child support, this is likely a non-starter. However, if a payor's reduction in income falls within one of the reasonable exceptions, and evidence supporting this is provided, a payor may avoid having income imputed to them for the purposes of support.
If the other parent won't agree to repay the arrears
If that doesn't clear the arrears, the CMS can apply to court for a 'liability order'. This means they can ask bailiffs to take goods from the other parent and sell them. If the other parent owns their home, the CMS can also ask a court for an order to sell it.
2. It's unfair to hard-working parents. Australia's child support formula is generally unfair to parents who earn a good income. Every dollar that's given to one parent because they have a lower income is a dollar taken from the main financial contributor.
Child support payments provide an avenue to ensure that children are supported financially, no matter the outcome of their parents' divorce. Each state has its own guidelines for calculating child support, and the court will likely have the final say regarding how parents will manage child support moving forward.
We can collect overdue payments going back: up to 3 months in normal circumstances. up to 9 months in exceptional circumstances.