CHILD SUPPORT

I cover the following Child Support issues for liable and custodial parents:

- Preparing and updating voluntary (private) agreements
- Inland Revenue Child Support assessments
- How child support is calculated
- Other court proceedings – variation, arrears, cessation orders
- Child support debt
- Departure Orders
- Shared care

How does child support work?
o The parent who is the custodian (the person who has the child in their care most of the time) generally applies for child support.
o Sometimes the custodian is not the mother or father of the child but, for example, another family member. In this case both parents may pay child support.
o A standard formula is used to calculate how much child support must be paid by the liable parent (the parent who does not have the child in their care most of the time).
o The standard formula looks at the liable parent’s taxable income, takes away a set living allowance (eg whether they have a new partner and how many children live with them), and the result is multiplied by a percentage based on the number of children the liable parent pays child support for.
o The annual amount is then divided into monthly sums.
o Inland Revenue Child Support collects payments from the liable parent and passes the money onto the custodial parent to assist with care of the child, or to the Government, if the custodial parent is receiving a sole parent benefit like the DPB.

To qualify for child support, the child must be:

o under 19 years of age

o a citizen or “ordinary resident” in New Zealand

o not married or in a de facto relationship

o financially dependent, that is, not working more than 30 hours a week on average, or receiving a benefit or student allowance.

The paying parent must pay until their child turns 19. It will only cease before this if the child:

* starts living with the paying parent full time
* is working full time (30 hours a week or more)
* is receiving a benefit or student allowance
* is living in a de facto relationship or marries