Couples are encouraged to reach agreements on their own regarding child support. Some couples are able to do this on their own without any outside intervention. Other couples may require some help. A Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner can often help parents work through the issue that come up regarding child support and other issues regarding children.
If a child is over the age of 18 and engaged in tertiary study it is possible to seek Adult Child Maintenance. A mental or physical disability of the child can also require such payments.
Orders for Maintenance need to be sought from the Court or it is possible to obtain these Orders by consent.
Child support lasts until your children are 18. The Court may order payments after the child turns 18 for educational expense or if there is an ongoing disability. You will need to get legal advice.
Child support lasts until your children are 18. The Court may order payments after the child turns 18 for educational expense or if there is an ongoing disability. You will need to get legal advice.
Both parents have an obligation to financially support their children until they are at least 18 years old. A new partner does not have a legal obligation to support the child.
It is possible that you will have less child support to pay. You can contact the CSA online.
The CSA requires proof that a paying parent is a biological or adoptive parent of a child. Proof could be the parents name on the child’s birth certificate. The CSA will only issue a child support assessment to a person if proof can be provided that the paying parent is a biological or adoptive parent of the child.
If you cannot provide acceptable proof, you may need to take court action and have DNA testing done. Seek legal advice if you need proof of parentage.
Categories
What rights do grandparents have?
A parent, a child or anyone else concerned with the welfare of the child can apply for a parenting order. This applies to grandparents and step parents.
If there is a dispute about liability to pay child support, a court can make an order for parentage testing. The court can order repayment of the child support if parentage testing shows a person is not the child’s parent.
Parents can make their own private arrangements for the payment of child support if they can agree. However, private collection is only recommended in cases where the payer is likely to pay or has a good payment history. Private collection of a child support formula assessment can affect FTB(A) entitlements.
A payee can request payment liability is enforced by the CSA. The Child Support Agency can collect periodic payments of child support or maintenance payable under a child support assessment, a child support agreement or a court order. The Agency has broad powers to collect child support debts including collecting from wages, intercepting tax refunds and collecting money from bank accounts. If payments are not made on time and in full, late payment penalties can be charged.
An administrative assessment of child support by the CSA is not compulsory. Parents can have their own arrangements they might have a private arrangements or they may have a written child support agreement registered with the CSA.
