Moffat and Child Support Registrar (Child support)

[2018] AATA 4896

Moffat and Child Support Registrar (Child support) [2018] AATA 4896 (26 October 2018)

DIVISION:Social Services & Child Support Division

REVIEW NUMBER:  2018/BC014437

APPLICANT:  Mr Moffat

OTHER PARTIES:  Child Support Registrar

TRIBUNAL:Deputy President J Walsh

DECISION DATE:  26 October 2018

DECISION UNDER REVIEW:

A decision made by an objections officer on 21 June 2018 to disallow an objection to a decision on 13 April 2018 that care percentages for the children were 86% to the mother and 14% to the father, with effect in the child support assessment from 22 March 2018.

Decision of the TribunaL:

For the reasons given orally today, the decision under review is affirmed.

CATCHWORDS

CHILD SUPPORT – percentage of care – whether there was a change to the likely pattern of care – no care arrangement in place - existing percentage of care determinations revoked and new determinations made - decision under review affirmed

Names used in all published decisions are pseudonyms. Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been removed from this decision and replaced with generic information so as not to identify involved individuals as required by subsections 16(2AB)-16(2AC) of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988.

WRITTEN REASONS FOR DECISION

DIVISION:  Social Services & Child Support

REVIEW NUMBER:          2018/BC014437

APPLICANT:  Mr Moffat

OTHER PARTY:                Child Support Registrar

TRIBUNAL:  Deputy President J Walsh

DECISION DATE:             26 October 2018

1. On 26 October 2018, I decided to affirm a CSA decision dated 13 April 2018 to determine care percentages for the children here as 86% to the mother and 14% to the father. The father’s objection had been disallowed. The CSA has requested written reasons, which I now provide.

1. The father had sought review by the Tribunal. The mother was invited to apply to be added as a party but did not do so. I conducted a hearing with the father on 26 October 2018. Care had been assessed by the CSA as 50/50 from late 2017. The father told me that actual care changed from the start of term 1, 2018 when the mother took the children interstate. He did not agree with this and took legal

proceedings which resulted in a court order in his favour on 31 May 2018. However, it was not until early July 2018 that the father’s actual majority care of the children commenced. The CSA more recently decided on 21 August 2018 to recognise his majority care from 8 July 2018.

1. The father considered the mother should not be rewarded via the child support system for her conduct here. He accepted that the actual care he had from late January 2018 was generally two nights per week, although there were some instances where he had no weekly care. There were no court orders prior to May 2018.

1. It follows that when the mother notified the CSA on 22 March 2018 of a change to care, the relevant test under the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 required me to assess the actual or likely pattern of care at that point in time. Later unanticipated or unpredictable changes in care could not be taken into account (but they could justify a subsequent care change notification and decision as occurred here).

1. I was satisfied that the actual or likely pattern of care the father had from late January 2018 was between zero and two nights of care each week. Whether he agreed with this state of affairs or not was beside the point. Since a care percentage between 14% and 34% resulted in the same child support liability, I considered the CSA’s determination of 86% care to the mother and 14% to the father to be appropriate. Accordingly, I affirmed that decision.