Rennell and Kidd (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia regarding a decision of the Child Support Registrar. The appeal was brought by the applicant, Ms Rennell, against the respondent, Mr Kidd, concerning child support payments. The central dispute revolved around whether certain payments made by Mr Kidd were intended to be in lieu of his child support obligations.

The court was required to determine whether payments made by Mr Kidd for school books and uniforms for the subject child constituted a "prescribed payment" for the purposes of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth). Specifically, the court had to consider whether there was a mutual intention between the parties that these payments would be credited against Mr Kidd's child support assessment.

The court found that the payments for school books and uniforms were not made with the mutual intention that they would be in lieu of child support. The judge reasoned that for a payment to be considered a prescribed payment and credited against child support, there must be a clear agreement or understanding between the parties to that effect. In this instance, the payments were for specific educational expenses and lacked the requisite mutual intention to discharge the child support liability.

Consequently, the court set aside the decision under review and substituted an order that the payments made by Mr Kidd for school books and uniforms were not to be credited against his child support assessment.