Suspending or ending a Child Support agreement due to care 277-18061455

Item

Example

1

Request for longer suspension after the agreement is terminated – part 1

Payee Mary and Payer Howard have a non-initiating child support agreement for their child Steve. Mary has 100% care of Steve. The agreement does not have a longer suspension clause.

Child Support is notified on 22 September 2018 that Steve moved to Howard’s 100% care on 20 September 2018.

Following discussions with both parents, a care decision is made on 15 November 2018. Mary has 0% care of Steve from 20 September 2018 and Howard has 100% care from 20 September 2018. As it is more than 28 days since Mary ceased to be an eligible carer, the agreement termination is pended for 28 days until 13 December 2018 while Child Support contact both parents to see if they want a 26 week suspension period.

If contact with both parents is unsuccessful, end the agreement on 13 December 2018 for Steve, with effect from 20 September 2018. A formula assessment is payable by Mary to Howard for his 100% care of Steve, with effect from 20 September 2018.

Request for longer suspension after the agreement is terminated – part 2

On 7 February 2019, Mary calls to advise Steve is again in her 100% care from that date.

Child Support advise Mary that she will receive child support under a formula assessment from 7 February 2019, because the agreement has ended. Mary asks for a longer suspension. Howard is contacted and also asks for a longer suspension.

As the joint request was made within 26 weeks of 20 September 2018, the agreement is suspended from that date until 6 February 2019. A formula assessment is payable by Mary to Howard for his 100% care of Steve, with effect from 20 September 2018 to 6 February 2019. The agreement is restarted from 7 February 2019 when Mary became an eligible carer of Steve.

Item

Examples

1

More than 26 weeks prior to 1 July 2018

The following example demonstrates the interaction of the agreement suspension and termination provisions and the care date of effect rules that apply from 1 July 2018.

If the care event was prior to 1 July 2018 (for example 10 October 2017) and was notified before 1 July 2018 on 1 December 2017 (that is more than 28 days after care event, and while the pre 1 July 2018 care date of effect rules applied), the payee will cease to be an eligible carer on 1 December 2017 from the date of notification. Unless there was a further care change and the payee became an eligible carer again before 1 July 2018, the agreement will be terminated from 1 July 2018.

Deciding whether any change should be made to the rate of child support already assessed as payable for the period 1 December 2017 to 30 June 2018 (the period before the agreement is terminated from 1 July 2018), will require careful consideration of the applicable policy and legislation. If a formula assessment may have been incorrectly applied, escalate the case to a SSO to consider any possible error correction from the relevant date, see Correcting errors on Child Support cases.

2

More than 28 days but less than 26 weeks prior to 1 July 2018

The following example demonstrates the interaction of the agreement suspension and termination provisions and the care date of effect rules that apply from 1 July 2018.

If the care event was prior to 1 July 2018 (for example 1 March 2018) and was notified before 1 July 2018 on 1 May 2018 (that is more than 28 days after care event and while the pre 1 July 2018 care date of effect rules applied), the payee will cease to be an eligible carer on 1 May 2018 from the date of notification. Unless there was a further care change and the payee became an eligible carer again before 1 July 2018, the agreement will terminate from 1 July 2018 but the customers may jointly request a 26 week suspension period until 30 September 2018 (that is 26 weeks from 1 May 2018).

Deciding whether any change should be made to the rate of child support already assessed as payable for the period 1 May 2018 to 30 June 2018 (the period before the agreement is terminated from 1 July 2018), will require careful consideration of the applicable policy and legislation. If a formula assessment may have been incorrectly applied, escalate the case to a SSO to consider any possible error correction from the relevant date, see Correcting errors on Child Support cases.

3

Less than 28 days prior to 1 July 2018

The following examples demonstrate the interaction of the agreement suspension and termination provisions and the care date of effect rules that apply from 1 July 2018.

• If the care event was prior to 1 July 2018 (for example 10 May 2018) and was notified before 1 July 2018 on 26 June 2018 (that is more than 28 days after care event, and while the pre 1 July 2018 care date of effect rules applied), the payee will cease to be an eligible carer from 26 June 2018, date of notification. The agreement will be suspended from 1 July 2018 until 24 July 2018 (28 days from 26 June 2018)
• If the care event was prior to 1 July 2018 (for example 10 June 2018) and was notified after 1 July 2018 on 6 July 2018 (that is within 28 days of care event, and during the grace period when the pre 1 July 2018 date of effect rules continued to apply), the payee will cease to be an eligible carer from 10 June 2018, date of event. The agreement will be suspended from 1 July 2018 until 8 July 2018 (28 days from 10 June 2018)

In both of the above scenarios, deciding whether any change should be made to the rate of child support already assessed as payable for the period between the date the payee ceased to be an eligible carer and 30 June 2018, will require careful consideration of the applicable policy and legislation. If a formula assessment may have been incorrectly applied, escalate the case to a Service Support Office to consider any possible error correction from the relevant date, see Correcting errors on Child Support cases.

• If care event was prior to 1 July 2018 (for example 10 June 2018) and was notified after 1 July 2018 on 1 Sept 2018 (more than 28 days after care event, but during the grace period when the pre 1 July 2018 date of effect rules continued to apply), the payee will cease to be an eligible carer from 1 September 2018, date of notification. The agreement will be suspended/terminated from 1 September 2018 (as per processes for changes in care percentages that occur on or after 1 July 2018)
• If the care event was prior to 1 July 2018 (for example 10 June 2018) and was notified after 1 July 2018 on 5 January 2019 (more than 26 weeks after 1 July 2018 and after the grace period), the new 1 July 2018 date of effect rules apply.

The payee’s reduced care of less than 35% has effect from the date of event (from 10 June 18), and the payer’s increased care only takes effect from the 5 January 2019 date of notification

If neither parent is an eligible carer between 10 June 2018 and 4 January 2019, because that is more than 26 weeks, a care terminating event will occur from date of care event, 10 June 2018. In addition, as the payee was not an eligible carer on 30 June 2018, the agreement will be terminated from 1 July 2018.

Either party may make a new application for a formula assessment. This should be discussed with the parties as soon as possible.

Item

Examples

1

Child/ren remain assessed on agreement

Payee Kylie and Payer Murray have a non-initiating child support agreement for their 3 children Ella, William and Charlotte. The agreement provides for a rate payable per child of $100 per week.

Following a care change (which was processed on 1 October 2018), the agreement for Ella is suspended from 20 September 2018 for 26 weeks until 21 March 2019. Murray has 100% care of Ella and formula child support is payable to Murray for that child under the child support assessment ($75 per week).

A new Provisional Notional Assessment (PNA) will generate on 1 October 2018 when the agreement is suspended for Ella. This is because the rate payable under the agreement will decrease from $300 per week for 3 children to $200 per week for 2 children, a change of more than 15%.

Murray’s net overall rate of child support payable to Kylie is actually $125 per week, Murray’s agreement rate of 2 x $100 per week payable to Kylie for William and Charlotte, offset by Kylie’s formula rate of $75 per week payable to Murray for Ella.

The new PNA issued on 1 October 2018 will be based on all 3 children, calculated using the child support formula. If neither party requests any variation to the PNA, it will convert to a Notional Assessment 23 days later (on 24 October 2018).

From 24 October 2018, the FTB A paid to Kylie for William and Charlotte will take into account the portion of the total new Notional assessment rate that relates to William and Charlotte.

The person now receiving the FTB A for Ella is Murray and the formula rate of child support payable to Murray for Ella is not affected by a child support agreement, so no PNA or NA is applicable in relation to Ella. The FTB A paid to Murray for Ella will take into account that the net rate of child support payable to Murray is Nil.

On 22 March 2019, Ella is still in Murray’s 100% care. The agreement for Ella therefore ends with effect from 20 September 2018. Child support continues to be payable for Ella under the formula assessment (this continues to be offset against the agreement rate payable for the other 2 children still covered by the agreement).

The Notional Assessment that issued on 24 October 2018 will continue after the agreement ends for Ella, as the rate payable under the agreement has not changed again, so no new PNA/NA is needed.

If a child returns to the original payee’s care before the end of the agreement suspension period and the agreement restarts for the child, the agreement rate will change by more than 15% and a new PNA will issue with all children assessed under the formula.

2

Child/ren remain assessed on agreement

In the scenario above, Ella returns to Kylie’s 100% care on 19 February 2019 before the end of the agreement suspension period. The care change was notified on 19 February 2019 and processed by Child Support on 1 March 2019. The agreement for Ella restarts with effect from 19 February 2019.

A new PNA will generate on 1 March 2019 when the agreement is restarted for Ella. This is because the rate payable under the agreement will increase from $200 per week for 2 children to $300 per week for 3 children, a change of more than 15%.

The new PNA issued on 1 March 2019 will be based on all 3 children calculated using the child support formula. If neither party requests any variation to the PNA, it will convert to a Notional Assessment 23 days later (24 March 2019). From 24 March 2019, the FTB A paid to Kylie for Ella, William and Charlotte will take into account the new Notional assessment rate.