Ben and Jacki have two children, Tom, aged 4, and Shona, aged 2. Ben and Jacki separate
and Tom and Shona live with Ben’s mother, Lisa, most of the time. Ben has
regular care of Tom (equal to 24 per cent). Jacki has less than 14 per cent care
of both children.
Ben has an adjusted taxable income of $45,000 and Jacki has an adjusted taxable income
of $25,000. Neither Ben nor Jacki has a relevant dependent child or any other child
support cases.
We work out Ben and Jacki's child support income by deducting the self-support amount
of $18,252
* from each of their incomes.
- Ben’s child support income is $26,748
- Jacki’s child support income is $6,748
We work out Ben and Jacki’s combined child support income by adding together
their child support incomes. Ben and Jacki’s combined child support income
is $26,748 plus $6,748, which equals $33,496.
We work out each parent’s income percentage by dividing their child support
income by their combined child support income.
- For Ben this is $26,748 divided by $33,496 = 80 per cent
- For Jacki this is $6,748 divided by $33,496 = 20 per cent
We work out Ben, Jacki and Lisa’s percentage of care of each child.
- Ben has 24 per cent care of Tom and no care of Shona
- Lisa has 76 per cent care of Tom and 100 per cent care of Shona
- Jacki has no care of Tom and Shona
We work out Ben and Jacki’s child support percentage for each child by subtracting
their cost percentage for that child from their income percentage.
Ben has an income percentage of 80 per cent:
- We deduct 24 per cent (the care percentage) which gives a child support percentage
of 56 per cent for Tom
- We deduct 0 per cent (the care percentage) which gives a child support percentage
of 80 per cent for Shona
Jacki has an income percentage of 20 per cent:
- We deduct 0 per cent (the care percentage) which gives a child support percentage
of 20 per cent for Tom
- We deduct 0 per cent (the care percentage) which gives a child support percentage
of 20 per cent for Shona
Note
Lisa does not have a child support percentage because, although she is bearing some
of the costs of the children, she has no legal obligation to financially support
them. Therefore, her income is not used in the child support calculation.
We work out the costs of each child. Ben and Jacki’s combined child support
income is $33,496 and, according to the relevant Costs of children table, this makes
the total cost of the children $7,978. We divide this amount by two (the total number
of children), giving a cost for each child of $3,989.
Ben has a child support percentage of 56 per cent for Tom, so he needs to transfer
56 per cent of Tom’s costs through child support. Tom’s cost is $3,989
and 56 per cent of this is $2,234. Ben needs to pay $2,234 in child support for
Tom. Ben has a child support percentage of 80 per cent for Shona, so he needs to
transfer 80 per cent of Shona’s costs through child support. Shona’s
cost is $3,989 and 80 per cent of this is $3,191. Ben needs to pay $3,191 in child
support for Shona.
Jacki has a child support percentage of 20 per cent for Tom, so needs to transfer
20 per cent of Tom’s costs through child support.
Tom’s cost is $3,989 and 20 per cent of this is $798. Jacki needs to pay $798
in child support for Tom.
Jacki has a child support percentage of 20 per cent for Shona, so needs to transfer
20 per of Shona’s costs through child support. Shona’s cost is $3,989
and 20 per cent of this is $798. Jacki needs to pay $798 in child support for Shona.
Because both Ben and Jacki’s child support percentages are positive, Lisa is
entitled to receive the total of the child support from both parents.
- Ben pays $2,234 for Tom and $3,191 for Shona—a total of $5,425—to Lisa.
- Jacki pays $798 for Tom and $798 for Shona—a total of $1,596—to Lisa.
Notes
- If one of the parents had a negative child support percentage (for example, because
they had more care) and shared care, they would be entitled to receive some child
support from the other parent. In this example, Lisa would receive less child support
because one of the parents would be meeting more of the child’s cost directly.
- Because Lisa is the only non–parent carer, she receives all of the child support:
a total of $7,021. If there was more than one non–parent carer, the amount
of child support would be divided between them according to their cost percentages.