Capella and Raines and Anor

In the matter of *Capella and Raines*, heard by Judge McNab, the dispute concerned an application to modify a child maintenance order. The applicant sought to discharge an existing order for child maintenance, while the respondent had filed an application to modify that same order.

The court was required to determine the appropriate child maintenance payable by the applicant to the respondent for their child. This involved considering the period from the initial order, through a period of nil payment, and then setting a new monthly maintenance amount until the child turned eighteen.

The court's decision was largely based on an undertaking provided by the respondent to withdraw his application to modify the existing child maintenance order. Pursuant to regulation 36 of the *Family Law Regulations 1984* (Cth), the court discharged the original child maintenance order made on 13 December 2018, effective from 1 January 2019. The court then set the child maintenance payable at nil for the period between 1 January 2019 and 22 February 2019. For the subsequent period from 22 February 2019 to 1 June 2019, the maintenance was set at US$864. Finally, for the period from 1 June 2019 until the child turned eighteen, the maintenance was set at A$375 per calendar month.