Deller and Liston (Child support)

The matter of *Deller and Liston* concerned an application to extend a child support assessment beyond the eighteenth birthday of the child. The applicant sought to continue receiving child support payments, arguing that the child was undertaking full-time secondary education at the time of their eighteenth birthday. The respondent opposed this extension. The decision was made by A Ducrou M.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the child was in full-time secondary education on their eighteenth birthday, a prerequisite for extending child support assessments under the relevant legislation. The court was required to determine if the evidence presented satisfied this statutory criterion.

The court considered the evidence regarding the child's educational status. It was found that the child was not in full-time secondary education on their eighteenth birthday. Applying the provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988*, which stipulate that an assessment can only be extended beyond a child's eighteenth birthday if they are undertaking full-time secondary education at that time, the court concluded that the criteria for extension were not met.

Consequently, the court refused the application to extend the child support assessment. The decision under review was set aside and substituted with an order refusing the extension.