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Child support is an ongoing payment made by one parent to the other to financially support their child after a relationship has ended.

Child support is gained by:

  1. an assessment with the Child Support Agency.
  2. through an agreement with your partner (informal or binding).

Assessment from the Child Support Agency

If support is required, please visit www.csa.gov.au to apply for assessment. The site also has a calculator for easy estimation of the likely payments your partner might have to pay you or the amount that you might have to pay your partner.

Informal agreements

We find that some clients will make an informal agreement about the amount to pay/accept in child support. We don’t recommend these arrangements as they are unenforceable.

Binding agreements

Formal agreements can be made between parties considering weekly payments to cover school fees, sporting fees, extracurricular expenses, medical bills etc.

The agreement must be drafted by a lawyer and each party to the agreement must receive the benefit of independent legal advice before they sign it – indeed, the independent solicitor must issue a certificate verifying that the client has received advice about the arrangement.

We listen

The family lawyers at Sterling Legal are veteran practitioners and have the skills and experience to sensitively and successful handle your case.

For more information, talk to the lawyers at our Community Law office today on 96497007.