O’Hagan and Odell (Child support)

This matter concerned an application for review of a child support administrative assessment. The parties involved were O’Hagan and Odell, with Member S Brakespeare presiding over the review. The core of the dispute revolved around whether a terminating event had occurred in relation to the payee, which would impact the child support assessment.

The primary legal issue before the court was to determine whether the conditions for a terminating event, as defined by the relevant legislation, had been met. Specifically, the court had to ascertain if any of the parents had at least 35% care of the child, as this was a crucial factor in triggering a terminating event under the child support scheme.

The court reasoned that a terminating event had indeed occurred. This conclusion was reached after finding that neither parent had established the requisite 35% care threshold. Consequently, the administrative assessment was affirmed, reflecting the determination that the circumstances met the criteria for a terminating event.