An ex partner and I had a child born in 2004. The relationship was 3 months, I didn't want the pregnancy but had no choice in the matter. We tried to make it work but it ended when the child was 4 months. I maintained a relationship with the child for almost a year, visiting weekly at her house and paying child support by agreement - varying amounts each visit. The visits became abusive with the presence of her mother at the house demanding more money. It became such that I was unable to visit the child at the house and the mother refused to allow me to take the child out. I continued to pay for another year. in 2006 I tried to regain contact but did not hear from her and heard that she was in another relationship. In 2014, I received word that she had made a claim with CSA and payments were coming straight from my wages. I heard that her relationship had ended from which she had another child. I continue to make payments still but she has filed in court for the 8 years of missed payments between 2006 - 2014 prior to registering with child support and is demanding it is paid in 30 days. I have tried to interpret the legislation and apply to my situation but still very unclear. I understand she did not want me in her life while she was in a relationship but we are now six years on from paying child support under the registered agreement and she is claiming money from me now while she was in a relationship in that 8 year period.
VIC Claiming unpaid child support from a private agreement from 6 years ago
- Thread starter JOEL VAN SANDEN
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- agreement child support
Her being in a relationship or not, and how much money or income that partner may have, makes zero difference in terms of child support.
The big question is, is this when she first applied for a child support assessment, or is this the first time she asked CSA to collect on her behalf? If 2014 was the first time she applied for child support, its not likely that she'll get anywhere in court for any 'unpaid' amounts prior to that date, as there is no child support liability that could be enforced.
If you had a child support caser prior to 2014 and it was private collect, then unpaid child suport can be recovered in court under section 113A of the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988, but these are for debts that "are on the books" at the CSA, i.e. CSA has been trying to get the money off you and was unable to for some reason. When a payee makes an application for pursue a debt under s113A, the Family Law Rules 2004 require them to obtain a certificate of debt from CSA in order to prove how much you owe (rule 20.03). If she only asked CSA to collect from 2014 onwards, then I'd hazard a guess to say that you'd have nothing owing for that period, otherwise CSA would be taking extra amounts to cover the debt out of your pay.
I can't see how a court could make an order under the Family Law Act for the 2006-2014 period, as there is the general rule which says you can't have child maintenance order if you would have otherwise been entitled to a child support assessment (section 66E - FLA 1975).
Best option is to give CSA a call and check your account balance. Ask them when your assessment first started and if you had a child support liability or have anything owing prior to 2014. IF they say no, I think you're pretty safe. Sounds like she's trying to scare you into handing over $$$.
Thank you, I believe that she had not registered with child support until 2014 and she claimed 3 months of back pay. I have seen in the paperwork she has supplied for court that she has letters from DHS outlining my payment obligation during those periods based on my taxable income. I will contact CSA on Monday morning to find out. Thank you.
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