Eddison and Hewitt (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by the father, Mr. Eddison, against a child support assessment made by the Child Support Registrar. The mother, Ms. Hewitt, was the respondent. The dispute centred on the father's income, specifically whether certain payments he received constituted assessable income for child support purposes. The appeal was heard by Magistrate K Timbs.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether payments received by the father from his employer, described as "redundancy payments" or "severance payments," should be included in his assessable income for the purposes of calculating his child support liability under the *Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989* (Cth). The court was required to interpret the definition of "income" within the Act and consider relevant case law concerning the nature of such payments.

Magistrate Timbs reasoned that the payments, while labelled as redundancy or severance, were in substance payments made in lieu of notice and for accrued entitlements, rather than a genuine redundancy payment for loss of employment. The Magistrate applied the principle that the character of the payment, as determined by its purpose and the circumstances of its receipt, is paramount. Relying on established legal principles, the Magistrate found that these payments were in the nature of wages or salary and therefore constituted assessable income under the Act. Consequently, the Magistrate upheld the Child Support Registrar's assessment.