Heath and Yarram

In *Heath and Yarram*, the Federal Circuit Court of Australia considered an application for adult child maintenance. The father, Mr Heath, sought to terminate or reduce his obligation to pay maintenance to his adult daughter, X, while X sought to continue receiving it.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether X, as an adult child, continued to be entitled to maintenance from her father. This required the Court to assess whether X was still undertaking a course of education or training, and whether she was unable to support herself due to that course.

Judge Burchardt reasoned that X was still undertaking a course of study at TAFE and that this course was a full-time vocational course. The Court found that X was unable to support herself due to her full-time study commitments. Accordingly, the Court ordered that the father continue to pay maintenance of $105 per week to X until 31 December 2016, subject to X providing proof of her academic results and continuing enrolment by specific dates and notifying her father if she ceased her studies.