Carrow and Child Support Registrar (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by Carrow against a decision of the Child Support Registrar. The dispute centred on whether Carrow had established "special circumstances" that prevented the timely lodgement of an objection to a child support assessment.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Registrar had erred in law by failing to find that special circumstances existed, thereby allowing Carrow's objection to be considered out of time. The court was required to determine if the reasons provided by Carrow for the delay met the threshold for "special circumstances" as contemplated by the relevant legislation.

The court affirmed the Registrar's decision, finding that Carrow had not demonstrated the existence of special circumstances that prevented the objection from being lodged within the prescribed period. The reasoning applied was that the circumstances presented did not rise to the level of exceptional or unusual events that would justify an extension of time for lodging the objection. The court concluded that the Registrar had correctly applied the law in refusing to accept the late objection.