Lunn and Lunn (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by the father, Mr Lunn, against a decision of the Registrar of the Child Support Agency. The dispute centred on whether payments made by the father to his mother, in lieu of child support payable to the mother of the children, should be recognised as satisfying his child support obligations. The appeal was heard by R Ellis SM in the Magistrates Court of Western Australia.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the payments made by the father to his mother constituted payments made to a third party in lieu of child support, and crucially, whether both parents intended for these payments to discharge the father's child support liability. The Court was required to determine if the Registrar’s original decision, which had not recognised these payments as satisfying the child support assessment, was correct.

In reaching its decision, the Court considered the intention of both parents at the time the payments were made. His Honour found that the evidence demonstrated a clear intention by both parents that the payments made by the father to his mother were to be in satisfaction of the father's child support obligations. His Honour applied the principle that where such a mutual intention exists, payments made to a third party can be recognised as discharging a child support liability, even if not made directly to the payee parent. Consequently, the Court set aside the Registrar's decision and substituted its own finding.