2.2.3: Eligible applicant - liable parent applications

Context

A liable parent can apply to CSA for a child support assessment.

Legislative references

Sections 25A, 26 and 26A Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989

Explanation

A person can make a liable parent application for an administrative assessment of child support for a child if they are:

• a parent of the child, and
• a resident of Australia on the day the application is made (or habitually resident in a reciprocating jurisdiction (See chapter 1.5), and
• seeking to pay child support for the child to an eligible carer, and
• not living on a genuine domestic basis with the person to whom they seek to pay child support.

A liable parent will generally not be sharing a residence with the person to whom they seek to pay child support. However, if parents are legally separated, but still reside together in the home they shared, they are not considered to be living together on a genuine domestic basis. Whether parents are separated, or are still living together on a genuine domestic basis, is a matter of fact and degree in each case. However, separation usually involves 3 elements:

• intention to end the relationship;
• action upon that intention; and
• communication of the intention to the other party.

A liable parent can only apply to pay child support to a person who is caring for a child under a child welfare law if that carer is the child's parent or relative (section 26A). Also see eligible child.

Example

If 2 or more people care for a child jointly, the liable parent must nominate only one of the joint carers as the eligible carer. If one of the joint carers is the other parent of the child, that person must be nominated as the eligible carer.

Example

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Version 1.3

Issued 18 August 2003

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