Child Support is a phrase frequently tossed around in everyday conversations and if you are recently separated, you may be wondering what your obligations and entitlements are. Child support has many complex ins-and-outs but as a concept is quite simple to grasp.
Child Support is simply a payment by one parent to the other parent for the purposes of assisting with the financial costs of raising a child. This may be in the form of a cash payment or a non-cash payment e.g. paying for school fees. Payment can occur regularly or as a lump sum. Child support is designed to be flexible and there are many different options which can be tailored for your situation and children.
Courts can order child support (and do so especially in circumstances where your child is over the age of 18 but still requires significant support). However, most child support claims are handled through the Department of Human Services (aka Centrelink). An assessment of how much child support you might have to pay or are entitled to is done by the Department of Human Services and if you are curious the Centrelink website has a child support estimator.
Child support can be done at the same time as parenting plans or consent orders, but is considered separate to other areas of family law. Furthermore, while your child support obligations and benefits may change as your circumstances change, you are still responsible for and entitled to child support regardless of whether you remarry, divorce or have more children.
It is possible to arrange your own child support payments without an application to either Centrelink or the Court. However, amongst other factors, you must seek independent legal advice to make this agreement binding.
To find out more about family law, family law lawyers and the court system, please contact James Frank for further advice at jfrank@franklegal.com.au or 02 9688 6023.
If you would like to know more about family law property settlement or how to finalise a property settlement please contact us.
This article was written by Andrea Spencer and Emily Graham and edited by James Frank. This article is provided to the reader for general information. It is not legal advice.
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