Marlowe and Dustin (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by Marlowe against a decision of the Child Support Registrar concerning the percentage of care for a child. The dispute arose from the Registrar's determination that there had been a change to the likely pattern of care, leading to the revocation of existing percentage of care determinations and the making of new ones. The child in question was attending boarding school.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Registrar had erred in finding that a change to the likely pattern of care had occurred, and consequently, whether the revocation and substitution of the percentage of care determinations were justified. The court was required to consider the nature of care arrangements for a child attending boarding school and how such arrangements fit within the framework of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988*.

Justice Thomson M found that the Registrar had misapplied the relevant provisions of the Act. The court reasoned that the child's attendance at boarding school did not, in itself, constitute a change in the *pattern* of care as contemplated by the legislation, particularly where the existing care arrangements were already accommodating of such schooling. The court held that the Registrar had failed to properly consider the existing care arrangements and the nature of the child's attendance at boarding school when making the determination. The court therefore set aside the Registrar's decision and substituted its own determination.