Court varied assessments (CVA) including lump sum orders (CS) 277-05010000

Notification may be received verbally, in writing or electronically, of a court order varying the assessment. In all cases obtain a copy of the order which bears the seal (stamp) of the court.

If an unsealed copy of a court order is received directly from a court by the International and External Review team, it can be accepted and processed. It is not necessary to obtain a sealed copy of the order from any party to the proceeding.

Ensure the document received is a final court order not an application to the court, a minute of proposed orders or a child support agreement. Check for phrases such as 'it is ordered' or 'it is ordered by consent'.

If the court order:

• was made under the Family Law Act 1975 and it relates to the registration of a Stage 1 case, see Stage 1 - registrations
• was made under s60HB of the Family Law Act 1975, relating to parentage of children born under surrogacy arrangements, see Eligibility and presumption of parentage (PoP) for a child support assessment
• was made under section 66L or 66S of the Family Law Act 1975, providing for child maintenance for a child over 18, see Stage 1 - registrations
• was made under the Family Law Act 1975 and it relates to a change to be made to a Registered Stage 1 case, see Stage 1 - variations
• is a section106A Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 declaration that a person is entitled to an administrative assessment, go to Step 3
• is a section 143 Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, see Section 143 order received by Child Support
• is to discharge the arrears for the case, see Collecting child support payments privately and/or discharging arrears
• was made as a result of an appeal of a Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) decision to the court, see Child Support Guide 4.2: External review applications to the ART or
• is an international order this should be managed by the International teams in the Hobart site. If one of these orders is received, check with a Senior Service Officer (SSO). See Technical Support in Child Support
• is for a lump sum made under section 123A or 124 Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, See Lump sum child support

If unable to obtain a copy of the court order, go to Step 2 Court Order not received.

Note: if a court order is received that is likely to end a child support agreement, a special recovery condition should be considered. This allows Child Support to make a decision on whether intercepting a TRIP prior to actioning the Court Order is appropriate. See Tax Refund Intercept Process (TRIP) Cuba Process Help.

If unsure if an order received will vary the assessment then check with an SSO and, if necessary, seek advice from a Program Support Manager or Program Advice Team). See Technical Support in Child Support.

Go to Step 4.

If the customer does not have a sealed copy of the order they may need to contact their legal representative or the court to obtain a copy.

If unable to contact the parties to the court order, a copy of the sealed court order can be requested from the court directly. To request the court order the following details are needed:

• the date the order was made
• the customer's court reference number (usually located on previous court documents) and
• the court the order was made in

If a court order needs to be requested, discuss with an SSO.

• Confirm the order is a section 106A declaration and not a Declaration of Parentage (a Declaration of Parentage establishes Proof of Parentage, a section 106A declaration re-activates a previously refused application)
• If the order does not specify a particular date or specifies a date earlier than the first application for assessment, the assessment will commence from the date of the applications cited in the court application. If it is not possible to identify which refused application for assessment provided the basis for the application, and there is no evidence that an extension of time to apply for declaration was granted, Child Support will assume that the most recent application was considered by the court and the assessment will start from the date of that application
• Only proceed with the application if there are no other outstanding issues
• If the order does specify a particular date, start the new assessment from that date if it is not earlier than the first application for child support for that child. If the order does specify a date earlier than the first application for child support, the assessment will commence from the date of the first application for child support
• Processing the section 106A declaration will trigger an initial Child Support Period (CSP) for the assessment, starting from the same date as the assessment. A CSP can only have a start date in the period between the assessment commencement date and the section 106A processing date if it is following a CSP that expires after 15 months. Cuba will create the first CSP, and a later CSP if the date the assessment starts is more than 15 months before the date the section 106A declaration is processed. Do not manually create CSPs during this period. Even if a tax assessment issuing would have created a new CSP if the assessment had been active, it is not possible to retrospectively start a CSP because of a tax assessment.
• Note: on the day the s106A declaration is processed immediately determine if a new prospective CSP should be created so that the most recent incomes and basic values are used. A new CSP may be required if an event occurred, such as receiving a customer’s tax assessment, that would have triggered a new CSP had the case been active. The new CSP will have a future start date and cannot be backdated
• the References page contains a policy link to information on events that trigger new CSPs and CSP start dates
• Example: A section 106A declaration is processed on 18 October 2016. The section 106A declaration starts the assessment from 13 September 2014. The first CSP runs from 13 September 2014 - 12 December 2015 using incomes from the 2013/14 financial year. When this CSP expires, Cuba generates a CSP from 13 December 2015 to 12 March 2017 using incomes from the 2014/15 financial year. In August 2016 the 2015/16 tax assessment for both parties issued. This event would have created a new CSP if the case was active. On 18 October the Service Officer processing the s106A declaration creates a new CSP from 1 December 2016 - 28 February 2018 using incomes from the 2015/16 financial year
• Only proceed with the application if there are no other outstanding issues
• Ask the applicant if they want the case to be private or Child Support collect (the collection status does not have to remain the same as the original application). Apply the collection status from the start date of the case. See Child Support guide: 4.3.2 Applications and orders about decisions under the Assessment Act
• Check if a debt is created (as the original application is taken to have been accepted from a retrospective date - see Risk Point above). Discuss any debt with both parents

See Applications for a child support assessment.

The phrasing and wording in court orders can vary significantly and this can make them difficult to interpret. If in any doubt, consult an SSO.

For a court order to vary an assessment it must include one or more of the following provisions:

• a periodic liability payable by one party to the other
• a variation to the periodic amount already payable by one party to the other
• a variation to the components of the child support formula
• child support payable other than in periodic amounts; that is, non-periodic payments that reduces the annual rate of child support (s124)
• a lump sum payment, which is to be credited against the amount payable under the relevant administrative assessment (s123A)

A court can make orders spanning 1 July 2008 that use pre-July legislation for the earlier part of the decision and post-July legislation for the later period.

If a court makes orders (other than orders that only set an annual child support rate) spanning 1 July 2008 but do not address each period separately, refer these cases to an SSO for advice. See Administering agreements and court varied assessments (CVA) lodged post 1 July 2008 that include pre and post 1 July 2008 periods.

The Service Officer must determine:

• if any part of the court order requires clarification
• the interpretation of all parts of the court order, and
• if any clauses and/or inflation instructions are not able to be administered

If unable to implement part of a court order, the order as a whole needs to be carefully examined to see whether Child Support can just implement a remaining part of the order. This is to ensure that Child Support does not undermine the intent of the order by only implementing part of it.

See 'CVA scrutiny considerations' and Child Support Guide 2.8.2: Implementing court orders that vary assessments when scrutinising and interpreting the court order.

Contact is not required with either customer when the court order can be clearly interpreted, does not require further clarification and is fully administrable. Go to Step 8.

Customer contact must occur when:

• international court order
• known family and domestic violence issues
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) customer
• Indigenous and / or Remote customer
• Personalised Services customer
• clarification of court order details required go to Step 6
• part or all of court order not administrable, go to Step 7 and/or
• the business otherwise determines the agreement to be complex

See Contact with Child Support customers.

If clarification is required of any part of the court order, contact both parties to discuss their understanding of the intention of the order. If both parties have a shared understanding of the intention and their interpretation is consistent with the words of the court order, accept this as the correct interpretation of the order. Ensure that this customer contact and the confirmed intention of the order are documented in the appropriate notepads. The documentation must include a brief summary of what the customers believe was intended by the contentious clauses.

If the parties to the court order do not have a shared understanding of the intention or their understanding is not consistent with the words of the court order, seek assistance from an SSO, see Technical Support in Child Support. When investigating the details the parties' legal representatives may be able to provide additional information to clarify the intent of the order.

Note: ensure the customer is aware that if we contact their legal representative, the representative may invoice the customer for the cost involved.

Information can also be requested from the court that made the court order. Before requesting information from a court, seek assistance from an SSO or Program Support Manager, see Technical Support in Child Support. The Program Support Manager may seek additional assistance from the Program Advice Team. Child Support may ask the court to provide a copy of the 'reasons for judgment', if that document exists, that may clarify the intention of the order.

See Child Support Guide 2.8.2: Implementing court orders that vary assessments.

After determining the correct interpretation of the court order, document this interpretation in the notepad on the 'Case' window and discuss the outcome and any consequences with both parties. If either party disagrees with the way the order is interpreted, they may need to return to court to have the order clarified or object to our interpretation. In this circumstance, it may be appropriate to send a unique letter to the customers explaining the interpretation of the order. This letter is for the customers to provide to the court if necessary. See Letters Cuba Process Help.

Where part of a court order is not administrable, investigate if the rest of the order can operate independently and consistently with the original intent of the order (that is, can the part that cannot be administered be severed?). For example, some orders may combine care arrangements with a change to the child support assessment. Severing the care arrangement provisions will not affect our ability to implement the part of the order changing the assessment.

Contact both parties to discuss their understanding of the intention of the court order. Advise that a part of the court order is not administrable and seek their views on whether the remainder of the court order can operate independently and consistently with the original intent of the order.

Taking into account the information both parties provide regarding the intent of the court order, decide if the court order can still be implemented without the severed part or if the entire court order is not administrable. An SSO must be consulted, see Technical Support in Child Support when making this decision. See Child Support Guide 2.8.2: Implementing court orders that vary assessments.

If the entire order is not administrable and cannot be implemented, contact the customers to advise why the order cannot be implemented and discuss their options, such as objecting or returning to court to seek a new order. Document any contact with the customers or the court. An MX0-2 Unique Letter with Assessment should also be issued to the customers detailing the decision regarding the court order, the reasons for the decision, and the objection rights. Use the UQ3.00 Court order not applied to Child Support Assessment (CVA not actioned template) in the unique letter.

There are very few situations where an entire court order will not be administrable. Before making a decision not to implement a court order, advice should be sought using the appropriate escalation process. A Service Officer should seek advice from an SSO, see Technical Support in Child Support and, if necessary, the matter can then be escalated to a Program Support Manager.

Note: customers must be notified of their objection rights where a decision is made not to implement an order. They have the right to object under s80 of the Registration and Collection Act if they consider that the particulars of the assessment are incorrect because effect was not given to an order.

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

If a court order has been received for lump sum child support under s123A or s124, see Lump sum child support for assistance.

Record a CVA registration by:

• recording the date the court order was made, lodged (receipt date), starts from and ends
• recording the periodic amounts, non-periodic amounts or formula modifications, and
• recording other relevant clauses and inflation information, documenting the details in the associated notepads

Note: if a court order does not specify an end date, the order will end for each child as they turn 18.

See the following Cuba Helps:

• Case/Registration Window Help, and
• Agreements Cuba Process Help

After updating Cuba run eligibility. For assistance with reading the results, See Eligibility Window Help. Before saving eligibility, ensure the changes to the assessment are correctly reflected and as expected. If the details of the assessment are correct, save eligibility. See Eligibility Cuba Process Help.

If unsure of the expected effect of the court order or if processing a very complex order, seek assistance from an SSO, see Technical Support in Child Support.

Cuba automatically generates the following letters:

• GNV - a letter to both customers advising why their child support assessment has been varied/changed (new assessment notices will be included)
• PAD7-1 - letter to employer if customer linked

Note: check all employer letters for accuracy as errors have been identified, such as a letter to the employer requesting that the full amount of arrears created by a court varied assessment be deducted on a pay date. See Letters Cuba Process Help.