Sickler and Child Support Registrar (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by Sickler against a decision of the Child Support Registrar concerning the assessment of child support. The dispute centred on whether certain payments made by Sickler to the child's mother constituted child support or were otherwise deductible from his child support assessment.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the payments made by Sickler were voluntary or obligatory, and consequently, whether they should be recognised as child support payments for the purposes of the assessment. This involved an interpretation of the relevant provisions of the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth) and the *Child Support Assessment Act 1989* (Cth), particularly in relation to the circumstances under which payments made outside of a formal assessment could be credited.

The Court considered the nature of the payments and the intention of the parties at the time they were made. It was held that for payments to be recognised as child support, they must be made pursuant to an obligation to pay child support, whether under a court order, a child support agreement, or a formal assessment. Voluntary payments, made without such an underlying obligation, could not be retrospectively credited against a child support liability. The Court applied the principle that the Child Support Registrar's role is to administer the statutory scheme, and that the scheme contemplates formal assessments and agreements, not the retrospective adjustment of voluntary payments.

The appeal was dismissed, with the Court upholding the Registrar's decision that the payments in question were voluntary and therefore not deductible from Sickler's child support assessment.