Oberlander and Worland (Child support)

The Federal Circuit Court of Australia considered the dispute between Oberlander and Worland concerning the percentage of care for their child. The central issue was whether the parents' living arrangements, specifically residing under the same roof, warranted a finding of shared care for the purposes of child support assessment.

The court was required to determine the likely pattern of care for the child and whether this pattern constituted shared care, thereby impacting the child support assessment. This involved an assessment of the practical realities of the parents' cohabitation and its effect on the child's living arrangements.

The court affirmed the decision under review, finding that the parents' living under the same roof was consistent with a pattern of shared care. The legal principle applied was that shared care can exist even when parents reside together, provided the child's time is substantially and almost equally divided between them. The court's reasoning focused on the practical division of care responsibilities rather than the formal residence of the parents.