Action required when Family Tax Benefit (FTB) customer no longer entitled to child support 277-51130030

After the change of care is recorded on the child's Child in Customer Care (CHC) screen, if the child was ungrouped it will no longer appear on the Maint Ent Grp Summary (MNGS) screen. If the child was in an active (entitled) group:

• The child will become inactive and will no longer appear on the MNGS screen and only historical data can be viewed for the child
• Actual and capitalised maintenance amounts for the child will be zeroed
• Child support entitlement, actual child support and capitalised maintenance for the group will be updated to exclude the amount for the child
• If the child was the last active child in the group, the group will display as inactive on the MNGS screen

To view historical details for the child

• On MNGS screen, type '2' in History: and press [Enter] to display the previous version of the MNGS screen
• Type 'S' next to the child, press [Enter] to go to the Maint Child Details Summary (MNCD) screen. Maintenance action: should display 'Exempt child left care no MAT requirement'

If the customer is entitled to child support for another child of the same relationship, check maintenance income details are correct. See Recording private maintenance income.

When the level of shared care for the child is recorded on the child's FTB Shared Care (FSC) screen, the system will auto update the maintenance action code for the child to L35 (exempt) with the same date of event as on the FSC screen. The customer is not entitled to apply for child support for the child.

Note: a problem (P24845) has been identified where shared care is not being correctly applied when a child is in the care of a parent who has transferred their Family Tax Benefit (FTB) to their current partner (step parent).

The Resources page contains details of the workaround that must be applied every time care is reassessed on these records.

Any private maintenance income received for the child must still be recorded as it can still affect the customer's FTB Part A rate. See Recording private maintenance income.

When the child turns 18, reaches their last day of secondary school in the year they turn 18 or is linked to another customer as a member of a couple, child support details will be automatically updated.

Death of child

After recording the death of the child on the child's Change Child (CCH) screen, if the child was ungrouped they will no longer appear in group. If the child was in an active (entitled) group:

• The child will become inactive
• Child support action will be updated to 'CHD'
• The Dec'd field on the Maint Ent Grp Summary (MNGS) screen will display 'Y' for the child
• If the child was the last active child in the group, the group will display as inactive on the MNGS screen
• The deceased child will no longer appear on the MNGS screen from the date the 14 week bereavement period ends. The child support data related to this child will be available on historical pages

If the customer is entitled to child support for another child of the same relationship, check maintenance income details are correct. See Recording private maintenance income.

For further information on the effect of maintenance action and child support groupings on FTB bereavement payment following the death of a child, see Bereavement payment of Family Tax Benefit (FTB).

If the paying parent was in receipt of a Centrelink payment at the time of death, the group should automatically change to a Deceased Payer Group when the death action has been processed on the paying parent's record. This action updates the group only, not the children in the group.

At the time of death where the payer had a Centrelink record, but was not in receipt of payments, or if the customer and payer were never linked on the MS screen. The following process must be followed:

• Confirm the payer's date of death as per normal procedures. See Confirmation of the death of an adult or child for further details
• Once confirmation of death is obtained, manually update details for the children as follows:
• Select all the children in the relevant entitlement group on the Maintenance Entitlement Group Summary (MNGS) screen in the payee's record and navigate to the Maintenance Action (MNMA) screen (via the Maintenance Action Results (MNMR) screen)
• Update the maintenance action code for each relevant child to 'LPD' (liable parent deceased) from the later of: date of death or date the receiving parent became entitled to FTB
  This will automatically change the group to a Deceased Payer Group
• Navigate to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and check the final results
• Confirm that the group has changed from 'Entitlement' to 'Payer Deceased' by navigating back to the MNGS screen before returning to the AR screen and completing the activity
• Before completing the activity, check the results on the AR screen.
  If a case end activity previously applied the ‘OTV’ MAT fail code, this activity could have calculated a negative adjustment and may have been zeroed off by the system. The arrears calculated in your activity must be adjusted to offset this.
  For assistance adjusting arrears within a current activity, see Step 4 in Table 2 on the Process page in Payment of arrears after reassessment and stopping a payment.
• Clearly record all details on a DOC

For more help, see How to group children on a customer's Family Tax Benefit (FTB) record.

Note:

• A customer may receive maintenance arrears from the estate of a deceased payer if it is reasonable to do so
• Any maintenance received from the estate is not assessed as maintenance income. Any arrears owing are exempt from the maintenance income test
• Any capitalised maintenance received prior to the payers death will continue to be assessed as maintenance income until the end of the capitalised period, or until the youngest child in that group turns 18

If Child Support have not been advised of the payer's death, warm transfer the caller to the Deceased Customer Management (DCM) team using the Services Australia Workspace.

Note: maintenance income can still affect the customer's FTB Part A rate.

Deceased Customer Management Team - if the relevant maintenance group is not already displaying as a Deceased Payer Group:

• Navigate to the paying parent's record
• Create a handoff for FCC to follow up using Fast Note - select Auto text, use Families > Updates > Child Support Notification of death

If the customer is Indigenous, obtain permission before mentioning the deceased by name. Check the indicators on the Customer window for an Indigenous indicator.

If the payer does not have a Centrelink record, or the other parent was not linked to the customer because there was no child support case, no confirmation of the death is required. Manually update details for the children as follows:

• Select all the children in the relevant entitlement group on the Maintenance Entitlement Group Summary (MNGS) screen in the payee's record, and navigate to the Maintenance Action (MNMA) screen (via the Maintenance Action Results (MNMR) screen)
• Update the maintenance action code for each relevant child to 'LPD' (liable parent deceased) from the later of:
• date of death, or
• date the receiving parent became entitled to FTB
  This will automatically change the group to a Deceased Payer Group
• Navigate to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and check the final results:
• Confirm that the group has changed from 'Entitlement' to 'Payer Deceased' by navigating back to the MNGS screen before returning to the AR screen and completing the activity
• Clearly record all details on a DOC

For more help, see How to group children on a customer's Family Tax Benefit (FTB) record.

Where there is an active child support case and Child Support have not been advised of the payer's death, warm transfer the caller to the Deceased Customer Management (DCM) team using Services Australia Workspace.

Note: maintenance income can still affect the customer's FTB Part A rate.

If the customer is Indigenous, obtain permission before mentioning the deceased by name. Check the indicators on the Customer window for an Indigenous indicator.

A paying parent can object to the Child Support decision to accept a receiving parent's application for a child support assessment.

A receiving parent can object to the Child Support decision to accept a paying parent's application for a child support assessment.

The objection can be on any grounds other than the paying parent's belief that they are not a parent of the child.

For more information see Centrelink action when an application for child support assessment is rejected by Child Support.

If a paying parent believes they are not a parent, and disagrees with the Child Support's decision to accept an application, they do not lodge an objection. Instead, they can apply to a court for a declaration under section 107 of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989, that the receiving parent is not entitled to an administrative assessment of child support, payable by them.

If successful, Child Support is taken never to have accepted the receiving parent's application for child support for that child, and the administrative assessment is ended for that child from the start date.

The paying parent may also seek an order that the receiving parent refund any child support they have already received. The court will consider the circumstances of the case and make an order about what repayment, if any, would be just and equitable.

The paying parent can register the order for collection with Child Support. An order made under section 143 of the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 requires a former payee to repay the former payer, a specified amount of child support, for a child of whom the former payer is not the parent. These registered debts are referred to as 'parentage overpayments'.

Collection of section 143 order amounts via Centrelink deduction is not currently available due to Child Support system limitations.

Child Support advises Centrelink in the entitlement file and should advise the receiving parent to contact Centrelink to discuss any impact on FTB. An exemption of 'PCP' (Parentage Cannot be Proved) is recorded from the case end date or the date loaded by Child Support, whichever is later.

For more information see Effect on Family Tax Benefit (FTB) where the customer elects to suspend or end a child support assessment.

If an exemption is backdated, the other issue for FTB is how to treat amounts of child support paid/received for the period of the exemption.

Amounts of child support paid after the case end date would most likely occur in cases where the paying parent is no longer considered a parent of the child. For example, where Child Support has implemented a court declaration that the paying parent is not the parent and the assessment is ended from the start date.

If a section 107 order is made through the court, which deems the paying parent not to be the parent of a child, the child support case is ended from the start date of the case. In this situation, the payee may incur a child support overpayment due to the backdated case end. Where the 'payee' is required to repay any amount of the child support, the amounts repaid will need to be removed from the MIT calculation in order for the FTB to be reassessed.