7.4.1.40 Registrar-initiated ending of collection

Context

The Registrar can require parents (1.1.P.10) to collect child support (1.1.C.60) privately, despite the parents not having made an election for private collect (1.1.P.110). The Registrar will only make a decision for private collect to apply in cases where:

• the payer (1.1.P.40) has a satisfactory payment record for the past 6 months
• the Registrar is satisfied that the payer will continue to pay their child support on time, and
• the Registrar is satisfied that private collect is appropriate for the parties involved.

On this page

• Satisfactory payment record
• All child support paid on time over the past 6 months
• Is the payer likely to continue to make their payments on time?
• Is private collection appropriate?
• Exceptional difficulties

Satisfactory payment record

There are 3 prescribed criteria for deciding whether a payer has a satisfactory payment record. These are:

• the payer's liability has been registered for collection for at least the past 6 months
• the payer has no child support arrears (1.1.A.100), and
• the payer has either paid all their child support on time over the last 6 months, or there are circumstances that satisfactorily explain any late payment.

All child support paid on time over the past 6 months

A payer who makes payments directly to the Registrar will be considered to have paid their child support on time over the past 6 months if they paid their monthly liability in full over the past 6 months within 7 days of the due date.

A payer who makes payments via employer withholding (1.1.E.20) (7.4.3) will be considered to have paid their child support on time over the past 6 months if Services Australia received the full expected employer deduction in each of the past 6 months and the deductions covered the payer's full liability for each payment period (1.1.P.50).

Where the employer has deducted the scheduled amount from the payer's salary or wages, but remitted the deductions to Services Australia after the due date, the Registrar will still be satisfied that the payer has paid the amounts on time. When the amounts deducted by an employer are not sufficient to cover a payer's full liability in one or more payment periods in the past 6 months, the payer will still have a satisfactory payment record if they make the missing payments directly to the Registrar within 7 days of the due date.

A payer who makes payments for part or all of their child support liability by the credit of non-agency payments (7.5.1) for the past 6 months will be considered to have paid their child support if the non-agency payment/s were paid or transferred to the payee (1.1.P.30) or to a third party within 7 days of the due date for the payment period in which the liability accrued.

A payer who has not paid all their child support on time over the past 6 months may still have a satisfactory payment record if there are circumstances that satisfactorily explain the late payment. The circumstances which satisfactorily explain late payments include:

• a payer was physically unable to make their usual child support payment by the due date because of an illness or injury (and the payer paid their entire child support liability as soon as it was possible to do so)
• the payer was unable to make the usual child support payment because they were personally providing care for their spouse or child during a serious illness (and the payer paid their entire child support liability as soon as it was possible to do so)
• a retrospective variation is made to the liability. A payer may have had arrears of child support over the past 6 months which they have repaid by adhering to a satisfactory payment arrangement. If those arrears arose from a retrospective variation which was not due to the payer's action (or inaction), the payer can still be taken to have a satisfactory payment record.

Is the payer likely to continue to make their payments on time?

A payer who has made timely payments of child support for at least 6 months will generally be considered likely to continue to make their payments on time. Where the payer had a poor payment history before the 6-month period, the Registrar will consider whether the payer is likely to voluntarily pay their child support to the payee without Services Australia's involvement.

The Registrar will consider the following when deciding whether a payer will continue to make their payments on time (this list is not exhaustive):

• reasons for late payment of any monthly child support payment
• the payer's cooperativeness in repaying this debt
• whether the Registrar took any enforcement action in the past 12 to 18 months (including intercepting tax refunds)
• where the Registrar has been collecting by employer withholding, whether there were arrears at the time that commenced
• any statements by the payer that establish a clear intention not to pay if not compelled to do so
• the reasons for the failure of any previous private arrangement within the past 12 to 18 months, and
• if 2 or more private arrangements have failed in the last 3 to 5 years, the reasons for those failures.

Is private collection appropriate?

The Registrar must be satisfied that private payment arrangements are appropriate in the circumstances of the case. The Registrar considers that it is appropriate for parents to make private payment arrangements if satisfied that those arrangements are sustainable. A private payment arrangement will not be appropriate if there are exceptional difficulties in the relationship between the parents, or between the parents and their children, which could undermine the arrangement.

The Registrar will examine the case file for objective indicators of any exceptional difficulties in the relationship between the parents, or between the parents and their children.

Exceptional difficulties

Exceptional difficulties could be of a long-term enduring nature (for example, domestic violence) or of a more temporary nature (for example, litigation). Where one parent is reluctant to make private collect work, this will not generally be an exceptional difficulty.

Exceptional circumstances may include, but are not limited to the following:

Family violence

Private collect is not appropriate in cases where there is a history of family violence (1.4.1). It may generally be inappropriate to require a person who has previously been exempted from having to take reasonable maintenance action to collect privately.

Illness

Private collect is not appropriate where a parent's physical or mental illness makes it unlikely that private collect would be sustainable.

Supervised contact

Private collect is not appropriate where the payer has 'supervised contact' with a child of the relationship.

Current or pending litigation

Litigation between the parents may indicate private collect is not appropriate. It is irrelevant whether the litigation is about child support issues or an unrelated matter. Litigation can be a cause of stress or concern which may make moving to, or sustaining, private collect more difficult.

History of disputes

A history of disputes between the parents documented on Services Australia's records (for example, ongoing disputes about payments or care arrangements) may indicate that private collect would not be appropriate.