As the cost of living continues to increase, parents are becoming increasingly stressed about the cost of raising children. After separation, the costs only increase as parents are required to maintain children and two households.
The purpose of child support is to try and ensure that children maintain a standard of living that they might have expected if their parents remained together. Both parents are expected to contribute to their children’s expenses and the social science tells us that financial security generally leads to more positive outcomes for children.
The Australian child support system uses set formulas to determine how much child support a person will pay. There are many things taken into account in this formula, including the division of care, the income of the parties and their personal circumstances. The Department of Human Services (DHS), through its Child Support Program, performs child support assessments and helps parents manage their child support arrangements quickly and fairly.
Let us help you secure a stable financial future for your children.
There are six different formulas that DHS applies when assessing child support. https://guides.dss.gov.au/child-support-guide/2/4/1
These formulas are intended to take into account different family situations. Most of the time, Formula 1, the Basic Child Support Formula, will apply. This is for situations where only the parents provide care for the children and neither parent has another child support assessment case.
While each case is different, the easiest option is to use the Services Australia Child Support Estimator. https://processing.csa.gov.au/estimator/About.aspx
Q: I work on commission, or other irregular income, and the standard child support assessment just doesn’t work for us, can you help?
Absolutely. Child support can be categorised into “periodic” that is – one parent transfers a set amount to the other on a regular basis, or “non-periodic”, which can be payments for things, rather than to the other parent. Often, a commitment to pay for things like school fees, medical expenses, insurance, cars, phone and the like on behalf of the child can be more beneficial to families than cash.
We can negotiate a private binding child support agreement that can provide an effective child support solution that suits both parents and provides security.
