Child Support

Child Support is one of the more technical areas of the law.

The Commonwealth Government introduced the Child Support Scheme twenty years ago and it involves a basic formula drawn up on the basis of each party’s income and the number of nights the children share with each parent.

Of course sometimes the government formula proves unfair in practice, particularly where for instance, one party has retained most of the assets of the marriage and the other party is left with very little. In these circumstances, it is possible to challenge the Child Support Assessment and we would recommend that you contact our office for advice or assistance in this regard should you have such a problem.

Recent amendments to the Child Support Assessment legislation also now provide for the couples to enter into private binding arrangements which step outside the government formula. The requirements for these sort of agreements are quite strict and each party must be independently legally advised and each party’s solicitor must provide a Certificate as to that advice before the Agreement will be binding.

Please contact our office should you require assistance with such an Agreement.