Corwin and Corwin (Child support)

The matter of *Corwin and Corwin* concerned an application to review a departure determination made by the Child Support Registrar. The dispute centred on the assessment of the liable parent's income for child support purposes, specifically in relation to distributions received from a discretionary trust. The review was heard by the court.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Child Support Registrar had erred in its assessment of the liable parent's income, particularly concerning the inclusion of distributions from the trust. The court was required to determine if these distributions constituted income for the purposes of child support assessment under the relevant legislation, and if the Registrar's decision to depart from the standard assessment was justified.

The court's reasoning focused on the nature of discretionary trusts and the liable parent's entitlement to income derived from them. Applying established principles of trust law and child support legislation, the court considered whether the liable parent had a present or future entitlement to the trust's income, or if the distributions were made in a manner that could be considered income for child support purposes. The court found that the Registrar's decision was not supported by the evidence and that the assessment of the liable parent's income had been incorrectly calculated. Consequently, the court set aside the Registrar's departure determination and substituted its own decision regarding the child support assessment.