Finnigan and Parkinson (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered a dispute concerning child support payments between Mr Finnigan and Ms Parkinson. The core of the disagreement involved the inclusion of a redundancy payment received by Mr Finnigan from his previous employer as a financial resource for the purposes of calculating his child support liability.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether a ground for departure from the standard child support assessment existed, specifically whether Mr Finnigan's financial resources had been affected by the redundancy payment. If a ground for departure was established, the Tribunal then had to decide whether to depart from the assessment and, if so, for what period and to what extent.

The Tribunal reasoned that the redundancy payment constituted a financial resource available to Mr Finnigan. Applying the principles of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988*, the Tribunal found that this financial resource provided a sufficient ground for departure from the standard assessment. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision to depart from the assessment. The Tribunal ordered that for the period from 14 July 2017 to 14 March 2021, Mr Finnigan’s adjusted taxable income be varied to $136,630 per annum.