Why Parents Pay Child Support Regardless of the Care Arrangements

This page will explain how child support is determined, why it might change, or why a parent may not see their child as much as they may like.

Before getting into how child support payments are determined, it is important to cover off on the distinction between care arrangements and child support. They are often confused as one and the same. Child support and care arrangements are connected although they are two very different concepts. 

Child support is the financial contribution for raising your children and is usually assessed by the child support agency within Services Australia. It is largely determined by using a formula, based on income, age of the child/ren, and the amount of time a child is in a parent’s care.

Care arrangements on the other hand are determined by the Family Law Act. When it comes to care arrangements, who the child/ren spend more time with, or are in the care of, is determined based on what is in the childs ‘best interests’, which we’ll unpack below.

How Child Support Payments Work

Initially, when determining child support there are two ways this can be calculated: 

• By the child support agency within Services Australia; or 
• by an agreement negotiated between the parents. 

The first option is for an administrative assessment to be done resulting in a parent’s application to Services Australia which uses a strict formula that takes into account parents’ income, the children’s ages and the respective parent’s level of care for the children. 

By way of example, where one parent may have more time with their child, if the child is an infant and still being breastfed, the parent who has less care of the child will be the one to pay the other parent child support. 

After this initial assessment, Services Australia (Child Support) then has the ability to amend an assessment if the level of care changes between the parties. This means for example, that if at any time one parent is withholding access to a child, that parent may have the ability to approach Services Australia for a reassessment of the other party’s child support obligations. 

The other option is to put in place a Binding or Limited Child Support Agreement which has been negotiated between the parties. The parents decide what kind of child support is going to be paid to whom and how it is going to be paid. These types of agreements should ideally include a degree of flexibility so if the care percentage changes significantly, there is room to move in the Agreement. If the person receiving child support has less than 35% care however, the Agreement terminates unless the Agreement itself provides for a period of suspension of the Agreement during that period of change of care.

How Are The ‘Best Interests’ Of a Child Determined?

Prior to May 6th 2024, the starting point for all decisions relating to the best interests of any child in Australia was the benefit of a child having a relationship with each parent. This was followed by the consideration to protect the child from the risk of harm. From May 6, 2024 amendments came into effect that replaced the very first ‘best interests’ factor with the need to consider risk of harm to the child.

While protection from the risk of harm was always important in family law, it is now the very first factor for a Judge to consider.

When Access To Children May be Impacted By the Court 

A failure to maintain a child properly, inclusive of child support payments, can be just one of many factors taken into account when a Judge is determining the best interest for the child. However, it is not something significant enough to be the deciding factor in what determines the case in either parties’ favour.

Generally speaking, recovery orders, where one parent has taken a child away, are given top priority followed by other parenting-related matters. Matters relating to parenting are also typically prioritised over property matters in the Family Court.

In addition to the changes in family law mentioned above, from May 6, 2024, equal shared decision making power between parents for a child, was abolished from the Family Law Act. That means that child support may continue to be payable even when decision making power is given to only one parent.

So while there is some connection between child support and parenting care arrangements, they are determined in different ways. Paying child support obligations alone is not enough of a factor for access or visitation with children to be allowed, if it is not deemed to be in the best interests of the child.