Child Support

Child Support

As a family-owned law firm, we really care about our clients and families impacted by a relationship breakdown. 

The child support framework provides separating parents in Australia with the support they need for their children’s daily living costs and wellbeing. Most child support payments are made until the age of 18, so to protect the interests of yourself and your children, it’s very important that you get answers to your individual questions and obtain professional advice, to be sure you pay or receive the correct child support payments. 

In assessing child support, important factors to take into account include:

• the number of children
  
• the  age of the child/children
  
• each parent’s income
  
• the amount of money each parent needs to support themselves
  
• the percentage of care each parent provides for the children.
  

You and your former partner can enter a private arrangement for child support in the short or long term. As family law experts, we professionally recommend that you formalise your private agreement by entering into a Binding Child Support Agreement to avoid possible future confusion or misunderstandings. A Binding Child Support Agreement is the only legally valid way of documenting and enforcing a private child support agreement.

Child Support estimator

The Australian government’s Department of Human Services (“DHS”) has an online calculator to help you work out Child Support payments, using a basic formula. This can be an excellent starting point to understanding your responsibilities under Family Law in a separation or divorce.

Collecting and enforcing child support

When it comes to child support collection, you have two options:

1. You can choose to enter into a private arrangement and collect the money privately between the parents. This more informal option may better suit your parenting circumstances, however it’s important to realise that with this private option, you are personally responsible for collecting and enforcing payment. This may lead to further complications, as it is far more difficult to recover payments if the other parent can’t pay or decides to stop paying.
   
2. The safer option is for you to register with the DHS and elect for them to collect the monies on your behalf. The DHS has wide-ranging collection powers and is more likely to successfully recover unpaid monies.

Child Support can be a very emotive subject.To get accurate information and ensure you are paying or receiving the correct amount, arrange a meeting to discuss your circumstances with family law expert Nik Koolik.

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