Recovery from mutually liable co-debtors 107-05090030

For:

• debts during the Assurance of Support (AoS) period and with multiple assurers, go to Step 2
• garnishee debtors, see Recovery from non complying garnishee debtors
• all other debt types, go to Step 3

The assurers are jointly and severally liable for the debt. They must pay the full amount to the Commonwealth.

During the AoS period, recovery from the assurers is on a voluntary basis.

When the AoS period expires, the assurers have an obligation to repay any debt.

See Recovery of Assurance of Support (AoS) debts.

For jointly and severally liable debts, the court may state each person is:

• responsible for a certain part of the debt, or
• jointly liable for the debt, but one person's liability is limited

Did the court order include any information about how liability of the debt should be apportioned between the parties?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 4

The debt can be recovered from all liable parties using normal recovery methods. See Managing recovery and non recovery of Centrelink debts:

• before recovery can commence, link all records together via the Multiple Liability (OPML) screen
• see Step 4 in Table 2

For example, if the debt was $5,000, the court said Person A was responsible for $3,000 and Person B was responsible for $2,000.

Did the court determine each person is liable for a separate part of the debt?

• Yes, go to Step 6
• No, see Step 2 in Table 2

If the court has made an order which apportions the total debt between the parties as separate liabilities:

• raise separate debts for each amount
• the total amount raised cannot be more than the original debt
• the customers are not considered co-debtors
• recover debts by normal methods, see Managing recovery and non recovery of Centrelink debts
• record all details on a DOC

Procedure ends here.

For example, if the debt was $5,000, the court said Person A was responsible for $5,000 and Person B was responsible for $2,000 of the same debt. While Persons A and B are jointly and severally liable for the debt, Person B's liability is limited.

Did the court decide one person was liable for the whole debt and the other person liable for a portion of the same debt?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 3

This means, after Person B's portion of the debt has been paid (regardless of whether Person A or B paid it), Person B's liability ends.

Go to Step 4.

Prepare an outline of the case:

• include the reasons the decision is difficult, and
• refer it to the appropriate Level 2 Policy Helpdesk for advice

Do the customer records need to be linked as co-debtors?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 5

Make sure details of the Customer Reference Number/s (CRN/s) for the co-debtor/s are available. Access the primary debtor's record.

The primary debtor is the customer the debt was initially raised against. When the records are linked, a mirror image of the primary debtor's debt will appear on the other customer (co-debtor) records. Any repayments (made by any party) are recorded on the primary debtor's record and are mirrored on all co-debtor records:

• go to the Debt List (OPDL) screen
• key 'S' in the Debt ID field. Select [Home]
• key OPML in the Nxt field and select [Enter] to go to the Multiple Liability (OPML) screen
• Complete the following fields:
• Co-Debtor CRN
• Liability (only complete if there is a limited liability)
• Comments (brief details about why coding co-debtor)
• press [Enter]

Clearly document action.