- Parents and carers
About you- Your child support
- Child support agreements
- Child support and the Family Courts
- Paying child support
- When things change
- When your circumstances change
- If you decide to give your relationship another chance
- Is your child turning 18 and still at school?
- Changing your child support in special circumstances
- If your income changes or is wrong
- Making care arrangements for your children
- Second families
- Estimating child support payments
- Our services for you
- Meeting your child support responsibilities
- Support for separated families
- The Parent's Guide to Child Support
CSA's online guide to administration of the new child support scheme
Access 2,400 support services for separated families
Subscribe to CSA media releases
How to apply for child support
Once you understand your child support options, either parent can contact us to apply for child support.
You can choose to:
- Arrange child support independently, without any help from us
- Ask us to make a child support formula assessment
- Register a court order with us
- Make a child support agreement and ask us to accept it.
Registration interview
When you apply for child support, we conduct a phone interview/information session with you. These conversations usually take about 30-40 minutes and cover a range of topics that may affect your case.
During this interview you'll need your Centrelink Reference Number (CRN) and Tax File Number (TFN). Additionally, we'll need the name of the other party, and where possible, their income and address details if we don't already have this information.
Can someone else apply on my behalf?
No. We do allow family members or friends to act as parent representatives for existing child support cases, however they can't apply for child support on your behalf.
The only representatives who may apply on your behalf are legal representatives or people with Power of Attorney.
How long does it take to process my application?
We aim to process applications within 28 days of lodgement. All applications, whether made over the phone, online, by mail or in person are deemed to be lodged on the day we receive it.
