- Published:
- Monday 30 September 2024 at 6:53 am
Demand for legal help to navigate the child support system continues to be high due to former partners who avoid or minimise child support payments to inflict financial control and abuse.
We offer legal aid and advice for lawyers to act for their existing clients and to accept referrals for child support clients. Lawyers who take up child support matters can have a tremendous impact for families.
‘We assist with the legal process to ask Child Support to look beyond the tax return and investigate a paying parent’s actual financial position if they manipulate their finances and hide income or assets to avoid payments,’ said our Child Support Legal Service Program Manager Kathleen Ng.
‘Child support is a technical scheme, so helping a parent to navigate the process where someone is abusing the child support system is such rewarding work that has real impact in ensuring economic security for children.’
Legal help to level the scales
Unpaid child support in Australia is estimated to total $2 billion. While some people have reasons for not paying child support — including mental health, incarceration or homelessness — too many are deliberately abusing the child support system.
The issue continues to feature in the national debate. A recent Women’s Legal Services Australia research report details how child support payments are used by ex-partners to continue gendered violence against mothers, and usually without penalty. Eighty–five per cent of Australian single parents and carers of children are women.
‘This report mirrors the experiences of our clients — including a recent client Mary*’ said VLA’s Kathleen Ng.
‘We see that there is an excessive and unfair administrative burden on mothers to pursue fair child support,’ said Ng.
Pursuing ex-partners is time-consuming and can be dangerous. In some cases, there is a risk of re-traumatisation and/or ongoing violence when mothers are forced to contact their ex-partner.
Legal help to navigate the system
Our Child Support Legal Service (CSLS) was recently successful in assisting a victim of financial abuse in applying for a review to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) which more than double her monthly child support payments providing much needed financial support to raise her two children.
Mary* (names have been changed) separated after a serious family violence incident leading to a family violence intervention order. She was certain that her former partner, Brad* was deliberately minimising his taxable income to avoid paying child support for their two children. A self-employed tradie, Brad had declared an annual income of between $26,000 to $70,000. Mary was advised to dispute the assessment by applying for a Change of Assessment in Special Circumstances (CoA). A decision was made to increase Brad’s child support annual income to $137 000. Brad lodged an objection to this decision. This objection was partly successful in that his annual income to calculate child support was reduced from $137 000 to $85 000, reflecting the median wages for a tradie.
Our child support legal services lawyer then assisted Mary to apply for a review to the AAT, preparing a written submission and briefing counsel to appear.
Our lawyer conducted title and business searches and provided a detailed submission to the tribunal. The submission detailed how Brad’s home loan application, business and personal bank statements and credit card records were inconsistent with an annual income of $85,000. As he was self–employed, Brad also took advantage of the various deductions available to him and not to the ordinary taxpayer. This reduced his taxable income and subsequently his child support payments.
After reviewing the Business Activity Statements and bank records, the AAT then set Brad’s annual income $137,000 – considerably more than the income he had previously declared. Child support payments were increased from $600 per month to $1,500, ensuring Mary had the financial support to raise the two children.
Grants and referrals available for panel practitioners
Legal aid is available for panel practitioners to act for their existing clients and to accept referrals for child support clients. Our expert child support team can provide mentoring, support to upskill, and access to tools and materials.
‘Mary’s case is just one example of the many families whose lives have been changed for the better thanks to legal assistance on child support,’ said VLA’s Kathleen Ng. ‘We encourage panel practitioners to get in touch with our team — this work can make all the difference in a child’s life.’
Contact
For panel practitioners who would like to help, please contact Childsupportreferrals@vla.vic.gov.au or call (03) 9269 0408.
More information
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