Rodham and Rodham (Child support)

This matter concerned an application by the father, Mr Rodham, to extend a child support assessment beyond the eighteenth birthday of his child. The application was made to the Child Support Registrar, who refused to grant the extension. Mr Rodham subsequently sought an administrative review of this decision by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether exceptional circumstances existed that would justify extending the child support assessment beyond the child's eighteenth birthday, as contemplated by section 142 of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth). The Tribunal was required to consider the specific facts of the case to determine if they met the threshold for exceptional circumstances.

The Tribunal considered the evidence presented by Mr Rodham, which detailed the child's ongoing full-time education and the father's continued financial responsibility for the child's educational expenses. The Tribunal applied the principles established in case law regarding the interpretation of "exceptional circumstances" in the context of child support extensions, noting that such circumstances must be out of the ordinary and not merely a continuation of the usual obligations of parenthood. The Tribunal found that the child's continued enrolment in full-time tertiary education, coupled with the father's ongoing financial commitment to this education, constituted exceptional circumstances warranting an extension of the assessment.

The Tribunal varied the decision of the Child Support Registrar and ordered that the child support assessment be extended beyond the child's eighteenth birthday.