Filch and Filch (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered an application by the father, Mr Filch, concerning a child support assessment for his child. The dispute centred on whether the child support assessment should be extended beyond the child's eighteenth birthday, given that the child had ceased full-time secondary education prior to turning eighteen.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the circumstances of the case warranted an extension of the child support assessment beyond the child's eighteenth birthday, notwithstanding the child's cessation of full-time secondary education before that milestone.

The Tribunal found that the legislative provisions governing extensions of child support assessments beyond a child's eighteenth birthday require the child to be still undertaking full-time secondary education at the time of turning eighteen. As the child in this matter had ceased such education prior to reaching that age, the criteria for an extension were not met. Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the original decision and substituted it with a decision refusing the extension.