Supporting parents to meet their child support responsibilities

We have a range of measures in place to ensure parents meet their child support responsibilities based on their true financial capacity.

A small number of parents, who are not motivated to meet their child support responsibilities, may structure their personal and financial affairs to avoid or minimise child support. Detecting these cases early helps us to guide these parents towards higher levels of commitment.

We focus our efforts on the small group of parents who actively avoid their child support responsibilities and who often operate outside government systems to evade their responsibilities by participating in the cash economy or acting fraudulently.

We also focus our efforts on the small group of receiving parents who under-report their income to unfairly maximise the amount of child support or Family Tax Benefit they receive.

How you can help us to help you.

Overdue child support payments

We aim to make it easier for separated parents to support their children and to meet their child support responsibilities. Most parents want to do the right thing. However, some need extra support, education and advice.

If a parent doesn’t meet their responsibilities, we will work with them to get the best outcome for their children and both parents. If a parent misses multiple payments, we’ll work with them to help them pay the overdue amount without causing undue hardship to them or their children.

Why child support would be overdue, what happens if parents don’t pay overdue child support, and how we can recover overdue child support.

Click on one of these topics for more information:

Collection methods

Where there is little or no evidence of a parent’s commitment to meeting their child support responsibilities or where there is evidence of fraud, we rely on enforcement activities to ensure we achieve the best outcome for children, parents and taxpayers.

The methods we can use to collect child support.

Are you experiencing financial hardship after Separation?

Separation is a difficult time for families, emotionally and financially. You may be finding it hard to make ends meet or want your money to work better for you. The Child Support Agency (CSA) can connect you to people who offer financial support and options, which may help you to meet your child support responsibilities. This fact sheet, Are you experiencing financial hardship after separation?, lists a range of products and services that can help you with understanding money, budgeting and dealing with financial organisations.