Caton and Osborne (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application by Caton (the applicant) to extend a child support assessment beyond the eighteenth birthday of the child. The dispute concerned whether the child was undertaking full-time secondary education on their eighteenth birthday, a prerequisite for extending the assessment under the relevant legislation. Osborne (the respondent) was the other party to the child support assessment.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant had satisfied the criteria for an extension of the child support assessment beyond the child's eighteenth birthday, specifically whether the child was a "relevant child" on that date by virtue of being in full-time secondary education. The Tribunal was required to determine if the evidence presented supported the conclusion that the child met this educational requirement.

Member P Jensen, for the Tribunal, reasoned that the applicant had provided sufficient evidence to establish that the child was enrolled in and attending full-time secondary education on their eighteenth birthday. The Tribunal applied the provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* which allow for the extension of child support assessments in such circumstances. The Tribunal found that the decision under review, which had refused the extension, was not supported by the evidence.

The Tribunal set aside the decision under review and substituted a new decision, granting the application to extend the child support assessment beyond the child’s eighteenth birthday.