Larkson and Larkson (Child support)

This matter concerned Mr Larkson's application to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) to review three decisions made by the Child Support Registrar (referred to as Services Australia) concerning the percentages of care for his son. The dispute centred on whether the Registrar's decisions to revoke existing care percentages and establish new ones, reflecting a significant shift in care arrangements, were correct. The Registrar's decisions had resulted in a period where care was attributed 100% to Mr Larkson and 0% to Ms Larkson, followed by a period of 100% to Ms Larkson and 0% to Mr Larkson.

The AAT was required to determine whether, at the time Services Australia made its care percentage decisions on 27 November 2019 and 16 December 2019, there had been changes to the child's pattern of care that warranted new determinations. Additionally, the Tribunal had to consider whether there were special circumstances that prevented Mr Larkson from lodging his objection to the 27 November 2019 decision within the prescribed 28-day period. The Tribunal's task was to substitute the correct or preferable decision for those made by Services Australia, considering material relevant to events occurring before the original decisions.

The Tribunal reasoned that the child's autistic spectrum disorder and associated behavioural issues, including violent episodes, necessitated a flexible approach to his care. Based on the events preceding the Registrar's decisions, the Tribunal inferred that a roughly equal sharing of the child's care between Mr Larkson and Ms Larkson was the likely pattern. Consequently, the Tribunal found that the Registrar's decisions to attribute 100% care to one parent and 0% to the other were incorrect. Regarding the late objection, the Tribunal found no special circumstances that prevented Mr Larkson from lodging his objection within the statutory timeframe, thus affirming the Registrar's decision not to allow the objection to take effect from an earlier date.

In substitution for the Registrar's decisions, the AAT determined that Mr Larkson's percentage of care for the child was 50% and Ms Larkson's was 50%, with these percentages to take effect from 9 March 2020. The Tribunal affirmed the Registrar's decision regarding the date of effect of the objection, meaning the 50/50 care split commenced on 9 March 2020. The Tribunal also ordered that the existing care percentages (which had been incorrectly determined as 100% for Ms Larkson and 0% for Mr Larkson from 10 December 2019) would continue to apply until 8 March 2020, to avoid manifest unfairness to Ms Larkson and prevent Mr Larkson from benefiting from his delay.