My Ex Refuses to Work – How Can I Reduce the Child Support?
It’s frustrating beyond belief when you’re working long hours to support your children’s future but your ex refuses to do the same, seemingly content to mooch off your hefty child support payments. But what can you do about it?
Understanding the child support system
The child support system is designed to create parity between parental living situations. This system is intended to create a level standard of living for the child or children involved. However, in a government-controlled system that is hardly close to perfect, one parent can often feel hard done by under the stringent rules of child support responsibility.
If this is you, you may feel like you are providing the financial incentive for the other parent’s decision not to work. But there are several grounds on which you may be able to apply for a child assessment review, and it’s worth seeing if you are entitled to lodge a review of assessment.
Parent’s income and earning capacity
The question that needs to be determined is whether your ex’s earning capacity or undisclosed income gives rise to a reduction in child support payments.
A registrar will take into account a parent’s earning capacity if the parent is not working despite ample opportunity to do so.
For example, if a parent is offered reasonable work but refuses it – and doesn’t provide a good reason for their refusal, then this may constitute that parent’s failure to work despite having the opportunity to do so.
However, this is a rebuttable criteria, as the parent’s decision not to work (or to work reduced hours) mustn’t be justified by their caring responsibilities or state of health.
In addition, the parent will need to show that the decision not to work (or to work reduced hours) was not substantially motivated by the effect this would have on child assessment.
Reduction possible if changes are aimed at affecting child support
You can also apply to the registrar for a reduction in child support where the receiving parent has changed their occupation, industry or working pattern for the reasons above.
However, it is essential that any change in that person’s career or working arrangements has resulted in a lower income – thereby, affecting their maintenance entitlements.
In other words, there needs to be something in the nature of a change in career, or of working in the same type of job but in an entirely different field.
Examples may include taking steps to reduce taxable income, such as purchasing additional leave from their employer, or significantly modifying their work shift roster.
The third element of the criteria is undoubtedly the hardest to establish because it is for all intents and purposes, a rebuttable test.
Essentially, it requires to person making the application to demonstrate that the child support assessment is a major purpose of the other parent’s decision about their working arrangements.
The other parent can rebut this presumption by demonstrating the opposite, to the registrar’s satisfaction.
Showing child support was a factor in decision not to work
So how do you show that child support played a major factor in the other parent’s decision not to work? The test is subjective and flexible so as to allow parents to make decisions about their work and life, and not micro-manage their decisions.
A suitable test would be whether affecting the child support assessment was one of the most important factors in the parent’s mind at the time of making the decision about their working arrangements.
A parent may be found to have a higher capacity to earn where they have voluntarily made a change resulting in a reduction in their income. If the change was involuntarily, such as a redundancy, it might be harder to establish this factor.
At Amicus Lawyers, we can provide advice and guidance on all matters relating to child support assessments.