Relevant period for maintenance for Maintenance Income Test (MIT) 277-51080040

A relevant period is the total of all periods within a financial year that a customer is entitled to receive maintenance income from a paying parent.

Maintenance income received from the paying parent is applied to the customer’s FTB Part A to calculate the rate of payment during a relevant period.

If the customer is not entitled to child support from a payer for the full financial year, the maintenance income they receive or are entitled to receive from that payer is converted to an annual figure to apply the maintenance income test during the relevant period.

Annualised amount = total maintenance income from payer x 365 / number of days the customer is entitled to child support from the payer in the financial year (relevant period or periods).

More than 1 relevant period may exist for a customer if they (and/or their partner) are receiving maintenance income from more than 1 paying parent in respect of different children or where the last child (of the same paying parent) leaves the care of the customer and later returns to their care within the same financial year.

The following events end the relevant period:

• case ended by Child Support
• death of last child in Child Support case (see below)
• last child turns 18 if the child completed year 12 or equivalent prior to turning 18
• last child is aged 18 or over and reaches the last day of school in the year in which they turn 18 (as determined by Child Support)
• last child in care less than 35 per cent
• payee request to end the case because payee and payer reconcile
• payee request to end the case because payee now believes payer is not a parent of the child
• death of payee or payer

An extension to a relevant period occurs if a Child Support disbursement is received by the payee (and notified to Centrelink) after the relevant period has ended due to 1 of the events described above. The relevant period will extend to the pay date notified on the disbursement.

Note: reconciliation of the payee and payer is not a terminating event to end a child support case. The payee must request the case be ended.

Details of the annual maintenance income assessment can be viewed from the MIT Explanation Summary (MNEX) screen.

If an individual is entitled to receive maintenance for only 1 child and that child dies, the maintenance liability, and therefore the relevant period, ends when the child dies.

Any child support received for the deceased child during or after the bereavement period does not extend the relevant period and the maintenance received is disregarded for the purpose of the Maintenance Income Test.

However, if there is an entitlement to maintenance from 1 payer in respect of more than 1 child and 1 of the children dies, the entitlement to maintenance continues for the other child/ren in the child support case and the relevant period continues after the death of the child. Any maintenance received for the deceased child during the bereavement period is assessable under the Maintenance Income Test.