Voaden and Voaden (Child support)

[2021] AATA 3678

Voaden and Voaden (Child support) [2021] AATA 3678 (18 August 2021)

DIVISION:Social Services & Child Support Division

REVIEW NUMBER:  2021/AC021915

APPLICANT:  Mr Voaden

OTHER PARTIES:  Child Support Registrar

Ms Voaden

TRIBUNAL:Member S Brakespeare

DECISION DATE:  18 August 2021

DECISION:

The decision under review is affirmed.

CATCHWORDS

CHILD SUPPORT – particulars of the administrative assessment – application to extend the child support assessment beyond child’s eighteenth birthday – whether chid was in full-time secondary education on eighteenth birthday – decision under review affirmed

Names used in all published decisions are pseudonyms. Any references appearing in square brackets indicate that information has been omitted from this decision and replaced with generic information so as not to identify involved individuals as required by subsections 16(2AB)-16(2AC) of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988.

REASONS FOR DECISION

BACKGROUND

1. Mr Voaden is the parent liable to pay child support to Voadenin respect of their child [Child 1].

2. On 18 February 2021 an officer of the Child Support Agency made a decision to extend the child support assessment beyond [Child 1’s] 18^th birthday, until 10 December 2021 (the original decision).

3. Mr Voaden lodged an objection to the original decision. On 9 June 2021 an objections officer partly allowed the objection, deciding that the child support assessment was extended to 12 November 2021 (the objection decision).

4. Mr Voaden lodged an application for review of the objection decision with the tribunal. A hearing was held on 18 August 2021. Mr Voaden and Ms Voaden gave evidence on affirmation to the tribunal via conference telephone. The Child Support Agency provided the tribunal and the parties with a bundle of papers relevant to the review (108 pages). Mr Voaden also provided extra documents to the tribunal (folios A1 to A2), a copy of which was exchanged with Ms Voaden prior to the hearing.

5. Relevant aspects of the evidence and material before the tribunal will be referred to in the tribunal’s consideration of the issues which it has to decide.

ISSUES

1. The legislation relevant to this decision is contained in the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (the Act).

2. The issue which arises in this case is whether the application to extend the child support beyond [Child 1’s] 18^th birthday should be accepted.

CONSIDERATION

1. If a child turns 18 during a year in which the child is in full-time secondary education, a carer entitled to child support for the child may apply for an administrative assessment, or a child support agreement, in relation to the child to continue in force until the last day of the secondary school year in which the child turns 18 (subsection 151B of the Act).

2. The definitions for full-time secondary school, last day and secondary school are in section 5 of the Act as follows:

   "full-time secondary education" , in relation to a child, means education that is determined by the secondary school at which the child is receiving the education to be full-time secondary education.

   "last day" , in relation to a child's secondary school year, means:

   (a) if the child is not required to sit an examination--the day determined by the secondary school to be the last day of classes for the school year; and

(b) if the child is required to sit an examination--the later of:

(i) the day determined by the secondary school to be the last day of the period of examinations for the child's year level; and

(ii) the day determined by the secondary school to be the last day of classes for the school year.

"secondary school" means a school, technical and further education institution or any other educational institution at which full-time secondary education is provided.

1. If the child has turned 17 and there is a child support assessment in place before the child’s 18^th birthday; and the child is likely to be in full-time secondary education on the child’s 18^th birthday; and the application is made before the child’s 18^th birthday; the application must be accepted (section 151C of the Act).

2. Mr Voaden’s objection is based on the fact that [Child 1] is only required to attend school for a few hours each Thursday during school term as part of a flexible learning program. He also pointed to evidence from the school which indicates that during Term 1 [Child 1] was not even attending on his scheduled days. He does not believe that [Child 1] is in full-time education. He also does not believe that he should be required to pay child support in respect of an 18-year-old.

3. Ms Voaden told the tribunal that [Child 1] suffers from mental health issues and for this reason he was been completing his Year 12 through the Flexible Learning Centre. This allows him to take a longer period of time to complete Year 12. He commenced Year 12 last year and was initially intending to complete it in 2021. He has struggled throughout the year and the completion date was pushed to 2022. Currently he is working on his research project; but is not undertaking any other subjects. An assessment is currently underway to determine what other options might be available to [Child 1] (e.g. employment, vocational training) in the event that he is unable to continue his studies.

4. The Child Support Agency papers contain a letter from [School 1] dated 25 May 2021 which verifies that [Child 1] is enrolled at [School 1] as a full-time student.

5. Mr Voaden provided another letter from [School 1] dated 30 June 2021 which confirms that [Child 1] is enrolled as a Flexible Learning Options (FLO) student. It further notes: “For funding purposes, this is considered a full-time enrolment and his official absence reports will reflect this”. The letter explains the expectations around FLO students and also notes that [Child 1] is currently not fulfilling his learning requirement and as a result the school has decided to begin the process of transitioning [Child 1] from the FLO program; a process which generally takes 8-10 weeks. Importantly, the letter explains that “his enrolment at [School 1] will cease once the transition process is complete”.

6. The tribunal is satisfied that as at [Child 1’s] 18^th birthday ([in] February 2021) he was in full-time secondary education as determined by [School 1]. Ms Voaden made the application to extend the child support assessment prior to [Child 1’s] 18^th birthday. At the time there was a child support assessment in place in respect of [Child 1]. Therefore the application to extend the assessment must be accepted. The last day of secondary school education for Year 12 students at [School 1] is 12 November 2021. The date to which the assessment is extended is therefore 12 November 2021.

7. The consequence of accepting the application is that the child support terminating event does not happen when the child turns 18 (section 151D of the Act). A child support terminating event happens in relation to the child on whichever of the following days occurs first:

   (i) the day on which the Registrar is satisfied the child ceased to be in full-time secondary education;

   (ii) the last day of the secondary school year to which the application relates.

8. The tribunal notes that as neither of those events have yet occurred, a child support event has not happened in respect of [Child 1].

DECISION

The decision under review is affirmed.