If you have a child support debt you had better pay it before booking your flights and heading to the airport.
Child Support Legislation
In Australia, parents are considered to have financial responsibilities for the care of their children and this is enforced by a section of the Australian Government, the Child Support Agency.
Money for child support is not dependent on spending time with your child. It doesn’t work like a hire fee. It is money that is intended to help feed, clothe and provide them the opportunities they need to grow to their full potential.
If you are a low-income earner the amount you are required to pay may be a strain but remember it is probably much less than it is actually costing to raise your child.
If you are hiding income and avoiding your responsibilities in order to punish your ex for separating or because you are not spending as much time with your child as you want, take a good long look at yourself.
Is your anger against your ex really that important? More important than the well being of your child?
The child support agency is a part of the federal department of human services and has far-reaching powers to recover money that is owed by one parent to the other.
They can take money from wages and salaries directly from the employer, they can take money from tax returns straight from the taxation office and they can stop someone from leaving the country unless their child support debt is paid.
If you are providing care for a child and not getting money to help from the other parent you should be in contact with the Child Support Agency. They can be bureaucratic and slow but eventually they will usually get the debts incurred paid one way or another.
If you have not made an application or followed up if your file is languishing on someones to do list they won’t.
https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/subjects/parents-guide-child-support
Non-Parent Carers
Legal guardians, grandparents or other family members who are caring for a child may be entitled to child support. If you are caring for a child at least 35% of the time (128 nights a year) and are not in a domestic relationship with either of the child’s parents you may be able to get the child support agency help you to get child support.
Author: Joanne Law
Joanne Law is a registered family dispute resolution practitioner, transformative relationship mediator, New Ways and Post Separation Coach.
