WA Child Support - Paying the Right Amount?

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Gudguhrl

Active Member
13 September 2014
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My fiancé and I are getting married soon plus we are expecting to have a baby soon as well.

He has an ex partner and never married and they have a daughter together. She is 8 now. My fiancé works, of course and his ex doesn't. She's got a new partner now and they just had a baby. They're agreement is private, but I am not quite sure if my fiancé is paying the right amount, I think it's too much.

As I've seen on the last assessment from child support, their tax wasn't updated. So does that mean my fiancé is not paying the right amount? I also would like to know, what are my rights and what are my coming baby girl's rights??? And what will happen to the amount he's paying to the ex because we will have a family soon.

We don't share an account. I am pregnant, going 6 months and still working and pay the food for our house. I don't ask money from my fiancé as I am not quite sure if I have the right or what. And what age does my fiancé has to pay for child support and what age of the child does the mother has to work and stop receiving money from centrelink and all that. Also I would like to know what percentage of my fiancé income he has to pay?

He is weekly and let's say he can earned 2 thousand dollars a week.

And if I have the right to help me financially how much I am entitled to have??
 

AllForHer

Well-Known Member
23 July 2014
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684
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The child support agency uses a formula to decide the amount of child support one parent pays to another. How much time the child spends with each parent, how much each parent earns and whether or not one parent is supporting another family are all factors taken into consideration when determining how much child support the parent is expected to pay.

While ever the father is earning more than the mother and is not the primary carer, he will be expected to pay child support. It will be less the more he sees the child and less again when you have your baby.

Your partner can request a re-assessment from the Child Support Agency whenever he wishes to ensure all changing factors have been encompassed.

The matter of when the mother stops receiving Centrelink support and is expected to go back to work is dependent on her private circumstance. Likewise, it is not your business, or your partner's. However, he will have to continue paying child support until the child is 18 years of age.

Your question about how much you're entitled to have from your partner is concerning - you're engaged to be married, but you feel your financial situation is a matter of legal rights, rather than of trust? Are you sure you're marrying your partner for the right reasons?

In any case and as a matter of interest, family law relating to property matters assumes that people in married and de facto relationships intend to pool their funds together for the rest of their lives. If you're engaged to be married, it stands to reason that you expect a certain level of support from your husband and he expects a certain level of support from you, whether it's monetary or not. Thus, his funds are your funds and vice versa, but I think you may need to address your discomfort about asking for money before you get married.