Rowatt and Guthrie (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered a dispute between Rowatt and Guthrie concerning prescribed non-agency payments made for essential medical services. The applicant sought to have these payments credited against their child support liability.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether payments made by the applicant for essential medical services provided to the child constituted "prescribed non-agency payments" that could be credited against their child support assessment under the relevant legislation.

The Tribunal reasoned that the payments in question were indeed for essential medical services and therefore fell within the definition of prescribed non-agency payments. Applying the principles of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988, the Tribunal determined that such payments were eligible for credit against the child support liability. The decision under review, which allowed for this crediting, was affirmed.