Ogden and Child Support Registrar (Child support)

The case of *Ogden and Child Support Registrar* concerned a dispute over the percentage of care for a child. The applicant, Ogden, sought to have a decision of the Child Support Registrar reviewed. The Registrar had determined that there had been a change to the likely pattern of care of the child, which would affect the child support assessment. The applicant contended that the child residing with the other parent interstate for a holiday period did not constitute a change to the likely pattern of care. The matter came before J Thomson M.

The central legal issue before the court was whether the temporary interstate holiday residence of the child with the other parent constituted a "change to the likely pattern of care" for the purposes of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988*. This required the court to interpret the meaning of "change to the likely pattern of care" in the context of the Act and its application to the specific circumstances of the child's temporary relocation for a holiday.

J Thomson M reasoned that a temporary absence for a holiday, even if interstate, did not fundamentally alter the established pattern of care. The court applied the principle that a change to the likely pattern of care must be more than a transient or temporary deviation; it must indicate a more settled or permanent shift in the child's residence or the care arrangements. The court found that the holiday period was a temporary arrangement and did not reflect a new, ongoing pattern of care.

Consequently, J Thomson M set aside the decision of the Child Support Registrar and substituted a new decision finding that there had not been a change to the likely pattern of care.