Family Assistance Office
How a child support agreement will affect family assistance
Child Support agreements before 1 July 2008 that continue
If you have a child support agreement before 1 July 2008 that the Child Support Agency has reviewed and accepted to continue after 1 July 2008, your FTB Part A will continue to be worked out using the amount of child support received under your agreement.
Child support agreements that begin on or after 1 July 2008
If you enter into a child support agreement on or after 1 July 2008, the maintenance income test for FTB Part A will use a notional amount of child support rather than the actual amount that you receive.
For certain kinds of child support agreements (particularly those for less than the amount calculated under the child support formula), the Child Support Agency will work out the annual rate of child support that would otherwise be payable under the child support legislation if there was no agreement, and this will be called the 'CSA notional assessment'.
The amount of child support that would be received under a CSA notional assessment is the amount that will be used in the maintenance income test for FTB Part A.
This gives parents more flexibility to make child support agreements while at the same time ensuring that the amount of FTB paid will be the same as if the agreement had not been made. Parents will not get more FTB if they agree to receive less child support, and will not get less FTB if the other parent agrees to pay more child support.
Agreements for a lump sum payment only
From 1 July 2008, for agreements for a lump sum payment only, the maintenance income test for FTB Part A will use the amount credited against the child support liability due to the lump sum payment, plus any remaining cash child support that is received.
Example: Sylvia and Peter have a binding child support agreement in place, which provides that Peter is to transfer $12,000 to Sylvia. They agree that this amount is to be credited at 75 per cent of Peter's child support liability for their daughter Vicki. Peter's child support liability for 2008-09 is $4,000, and Sylvia receives $500 cash child support in 2008-09. In working out Sylvia's FTB Part A rate, the maintenance income test will use the lump sum credit of $3,000 plus the cash payment of $500 that Sylvia also received.
Changes to Family Assistance
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This page last modified on 19/03/2008.
This page accessed on 08/01/2009.
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