Faichney and Kelaghor (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by the father, Mr. Faichney, against a departure determination made by the Registrar of the Child Support Agency. The dispute centred on the child support payable for the parties' two children, with the father seeking to reduce his child support liability by claiming deductions for the costs of the children's private school education and for the costs of maintaining the children during his periods of care. The Registrar had previously determined that these costs should not be deducted from the father's assessable income for child support purposes.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Registrar erred in refusing to depart from the administrative assessment of child support. Specifically, the court had to consider whether the costs of private school education and the costs of maintaining the children during the father's care constituted "special circumstances" that justified a departure from the standard assessment under the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth). The court was required to assess whether these claimed expenses were reasonable and necessary, and whether their exclusion from the child support calculation would result in an unjust or inequitable outcome.

The court reasoned that while the costs of private education can, in some circumstances, be considered a special circumstance, the father had not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that these costs were both reasonable and necessary for the children's upbringing in this particular case. Furthermore, the court found that the costs of maintaining the children during the father's periods of care were already implicitly accounted for within the child support formula, which takes into account the number of nights a child spends with each parent. The court applied the principles established in case law regarding the interpretation of "special circumstances" and the discretion to depart from administrative assessments, emphasising the need for compelling evidence to justify such a departure.

The court ultimately varied the Registrar's decision, finding that the father had established special circumstances in relation to the costs of private school education. The court ordered that the father's child support assessment be varied to reflect a deduction for these educational expenses.