Pritchard and Bailey (Child support)

This case concerned a review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) of a decision made by the Child Support Registrar regarding the percentage of care for a child, [Child 1]. The applicant, Miss Pritchard, sought to challenge a decision that had substituted an earlier decision, altering the date on which Mr Bailey ceased to be an eligible carer of [Child 1]. The dispute centred on determining the precise date Mr Bailey's care responsibilities for [Child 1] ended, which in turn affected the cessation date of the child support assessment.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine the date on which Mr Bailey ceased to have a pattern of care for [Child 1], thereby ceasing to be an eligible carer. This determination was crucial for establishing the correct terminating event date for the child support assessment, which had been subject to conflicting decisions by Services Australia (acting for the Registrar). Miss Pritchard contended that Mr Bailey's care had ceased much earlier than the date determined in the objection decision, while Mr Bailey asserted a later cessation date.

The Tribunal preferred the evidence of Mr Bailey. It found that he continued to pay rent for the residence where [Child 1] lived until 28 April 2020, thereby ensuring her accommodation. While Mr Bailey had moved to a different property from 1 January 2020, the Tribunal accepted his evidence that he regularly visited the original residence during the week to collect colleagues for work, and on these occasions, he would check on [Child 1] and sometimes drive her to school. The Tribunal also noted evidence of Mr Bailey transferring small amounts of cash to [Child 1], inferring this was for her needs, and accepted his evidence that he occasionally cooked for her and organised her school transport. The Tribunal considered the correspondence provided by Miss Pritchard from third parties to be not inconsistent with Mr Bailey's evidence, particularly regarding the date [Child 1] left the residence and the cessation of Mr Bailey's financial support.

The Tribunal concluded that Mr Bailey continued to provide support and care for [Child 1] until 28 April 2020. Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision of Services Australia, which had set the terminating event date as 28 April 2020.