Waterfield and Partridge (Child support)

This matter concerned an appeal by Waterfield against a decision of the Child Support Registrar concerning an administrative assessment of child support. Partridge was the other party to the proceedings. The dispute centred on the Registrar's acceptance of an estimate of Waterfield's income for the purposes of the child support assessment.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the Child Support Registrar had erred in accepting an estimate of Waterfield's income, rather than refusing to make an estimate and proceeding with a default assessment. This required the court to consider the circumstances under which an estimate of income is permissible under the *Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988* (Cth) and the relevant administrative guidelines.

The court affirmed the Registrar's decision, finding that the estimate of income was correctly accepted. The reasoning applied was that the Registrar had a statutory discretion to estimate a liable parent's income where the parent had failed to provide sufficient information. The evidence before the Registrar supported the conclusion that Waterfield had not provided adequate information regarding his income, and therefore, the estimation was a lawful and appropriate course of action. The court found no error in the exercise of this discretion.