Recording a Child Support agreement 277-02010030

Record the agreement in Cuba. Ensure all agreement clauses are recorded correctly, including inflation, unemployment, longer suspension and role swap clauses. See Interpreting and making a decision on a Child Support agreement.

If the Agreement Adjusts the Annual Rate to Nil or Reduces the Assessment by 100%, go to Step 2.

See the following Cuba helps if necessary:

• Agreements Cuba process help
• Case/Registration window help

If there is a change of assessment (COA) in progress, go to Step 3.

If the new agreement replaces a current agreement, see Ending a Child Support agreement.

Agreements that adjust the annual rate to nil or reduce the assessment by 100% will result in a nil assessment, therefore the particulars of the formula assessment including the incomes of both parents are not relevant to the amount payable. Including the particulars in the CS2 Agreement Assessment notices may result in a privacy breach.

To prevent the Agreement Assessment notice from including the particulars of a formula assessment, record a Periodic Amount of $0 in the Cuba Additional Registration Information window:

• select the Periodic Amounts radio button
• record a Periodic Amount of 0

See Agreements Cuba process help.

Note: this process will not affect the issuing of Provisional Notional or Notional Assessment Notices which are still required and must include the particulars of the formula assessment that would apply if no agreement were in place, including the incomes of both parents.

If a COA is in progress, pend the registration, attempt to contact the Decision Maker (DM) by phone, (see the Contacting current or previous Decision Makers table in Change of assessment enquiries and route the Agreement in Progress intray to the DM.

Agreement made after the COA application was lodged

If the DM:

• accepts the agreement, the DM will notify the Agreements Team Service Officer who will process the registration, go to Step 6
• does not accept the agreement, the DM will notify the Agreements Team Service Officer who will refuse the registration

Agreement made before or at the same time a COA application is lodged

The DM will refer the agreement back to the Agreements Team to make a decision on whether the agreement should be accepted or refused. Once a likely decision has been made, the Agreements team will notify the DM if the application for acceptance of the agreement is likely to be accepted or refused. See Agreements received during the COA process table, step 1, in Finalising a change of assessment (COA) application.

Run eligibility to give effect to the decision. Cuba will propose either accepting or refusing the agreement based on the information entered, see Eligibility Cuba process help.

Review and address the pre-confirmation results and do not save eligibility until every issue has been corrected.

If Cuba is proposing a result that is different than the Service Officer intended. For example, the Service Officer expected the agreement should be accepted and Cuba is intending to refuse it, or the Service Officer expected the agreement should be refused and Cuba is intending to accept it.

Do not save eligibility until the reason for the unexpected results has been determined and the correct outcome has been decided.

For assistance with reading the results, see Eligibility window help and if necessary seek assistance from a Service Support Officer.

If the agreement starts or re-starts a case, Cuba will automatically create a child support period, see Child Support Period Management Cuba process help.

If the agreement does not change the annual rate, do not create a new child support period. The agreement will commence from the relevant start date in the current child support period.

If the agreement changes the annual rate of child support payable, check that a new child support period has commenced from the start date of the agreement. If a new child support period has not commenced create a new child support period. See Child Support Period Management Cuba process help.

Once the agreement has been processed, review Cuba letters to ensure they are correct and appropriate. See the View or preview a letter table in Letters Cuba process help.

Go to Step 6.

Document the reasons for your decision and reference the legislation used to make your decision in the Case window. For more detail about what to document, see Documenting Child Support information.

Contact is not required with either customer when the agreement is properly made, can be clearly interpreted, does not require further clarification and full effect can be given to its provisions. Go to Step 7.

Customer contact must occur when:

• it is an initiating agreement
• it is an international agreement
• there are known family and domestic violence issues
• it is a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) customer
• it is an Indigenous and/or Remote customer
• it is a Personalised Services customer
• the business otherwise determines the agreement to be complex. This includes, but is not limited to, where we require further information or clarification from either party or we are unable to give full effect to the provisions of the agreement

In these instances, contact customers by telephone to advise them of the decision and inform them that letters will automatically issue and will contain information about their objection rights.

Sometimes, the customer's solicitor sends Services Australia the (customer's) request for the acceptance of an agreement. The solicitor may also request to be notified in writing of the decision to accept or refuse the agreement.

If the solicitor is the customer's authorised representative, issue a copy of the agreement decision letter to the solicitor. If the solicitor is not the customer's authorised representative at the time of the request, contact the customer and obtain verbal authorisation to issue the decision letter, or written authorisation for an enduring period, before issuing the decision letter to the solicitor.

Note: send the solicitor a copy of the agreement decision letter. A unique letter is not required.

Once the Service Officer (SO4) or above has authorised the decision, Cuba will automatically generate relevant letters from the following:

• CS2 Agreement Assessment Notice
• DS2 Notice of Notional Assessment
• MEA1-2 Payee - We have accepted the application to end the assessment
• MEA1-3 Payer - We have accepted the application to end the assessment
• MEA1-7 Application to end agreement rejected (both)
• MEA1-8 Additional Child support Payment required (both)
• MEA2-1 Lump Sum Credited in full letter (both)
• REG8-1 Provisional/Notional Assessment Covering letter (both)
• REG5-1 A letter to a Payee to advise that application to register agreement has been accepted
• REG5-2 A letter to a Payer to advise that application to register agreement has been accepted
• REG5A-1 A letter to a Payee to advise that stage 2 application to register agreement rejected
• REG5A-2 A letter to a Payer to advise that stage 2 application to register agreement rejected

Review the keyed letters to ensure they are correct before they are sent out overnight through Cuba.