Referrals to legal advice for action to obtain child support to satisfy the Maintenance Action Test (MAT) 277-51070110

FTB customers who need to take action to obtain child support for a child must be referred to seek legal advice if:

• they know the parent's identity but are unable to obtain evidence of parentage, unless the liable parent is living overseas
  Note: in these cases, the customer must first apply for a child support assessment and have the application rejected by Child Support
• they cannot privately collect the full amount of a court order or formal agreement which includes non-cash maintenance. In this case they need to apply to have the existing arrangement changed or ended

If a customer has been referred to seek legal advice and the Maintenance Action Test (MAT) code 'PRP' (seeking proof of parentage) has already been coded, PRP can only be recorded a subsequent time once the customer provides evidence they have taken action (such as a letter from a legal service or evidence of a court date).

Customers may receive advice that legal action is unlikely to be successful or that a legal service is unable to assist the individual due to remoteness. In these cases, the customer satisfies the MAT if they provide evidence of that legal advice. If a customer is unable to provide evidence or is reluctant to take legal action, they should be referred to a Social Worker or Indigenous Specialist Officer for an assessment for an exemption.

Services Australia is not able to pay legal costs for customers. Community legal centres run free weekly advice sessions - no appointment is needed. The Legal Aid Commission caters for people on low income, although customers may need to contribute towards the cost. Customers are required to show that they are taking legal action before their maintenance action can be updated to 'PRP' a second or subsequent time.

Legal Aid and other community legal centres can provide general information about various child support issues through legal advice, information sessions, self-help kits and in some cases, casework assistance.

For contact details, see Legal Aid Commissions for phone numbers for customers.

Where a customer is referred to, or provides evidence showing that they are pursuing proof of parentage with a legal service, the customer's Maintenance Action Test code may be updated to 'PRP'. 85 days after the 'PRP' date of event, a Manual Follow-up (MFU) matures to follow-up what action is being taken. If no further updates are made to the MAT code, the customer will fail the MAT and their FTB will be reduced to base rate after a total of 99 days. The Resources page contains the approved text to be used for Q999/Q888 letters.

Since 8 April 2013, Legal Aid practitioners can fax directly to Centrelink via the National scanning fax number 1300 786 102 to advise they are assisting customers. The fax will be scanned to the customer's record and the relevant child/ren's Maintenance Action Test indicator will be updated accordingly. Customers can still choose to provide this evidence themselves, it does not have to come from Legal Aid.