Steffen and Dustin (Child support)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) considered an application by Steffen (the applicant) concerning a child support assessment for his child with Dustin (the respondent). The dispute centred on the percentage of care attributed to each parent for the purposes of calculating child support liability. The applicant sought to have the percentage of care determined in his favour, which would reduce his child support obligations.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was to determine the likely pattern of care for the child from the commencement of the administrative assessment, as required by section 65 of the *Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989* (Cth). This involved assessing the factual circumstances to ascertain which parent would have the child in their care for the greater proportion of time.

Member P Jensen affirmed the decision under review, finding that the evidence did not support a finding that the applicant would have the child in his care for 65% or more of the time. The Tribunal applied the principles of assessing the *likely* pattern of care, considering the practical realities and arrangements rather than merely theoretical possibilities. The Tribunal's reasoning focused on the established care arrangements and the projected future care, concluding that the existing assessment accurately reflected the likely care arrangements.