VIC Child Custody/Support/Parenting Plan

[SKCurious]

Hi,

I would greatly appreciate any advice or guidance regarding my current situation.

I am a recently separated father with two children under the age of 12, who are in their mother’s care. Consent Orders have been finalized, granting my ex-partner over 70% of the settlement. She has since relocated with the children, despite my initial opposition to the move (which I ultimately conceded under advisement).

A parenting plan is in place that outlines my visitation schedule and the monthly child support (CS) payments I make. The agreed CS amount is lower than the standard CS assessment, as it accounts for my frequent travel and accommodation expenses to see my children. These arrangements were finalized in May 2024, with the Consent Orders completed between September and October 2024. My ex has been receiving payments as per the parenting plan.

However, upon reviewing my recent tax return, I noticed a deduction for CS. When I inquired with CS, I was informed that my ex applied for a CS assessment in November 2024. I was unaware of this application, as I assumed the parenting plan was still in effect and I was already making monthly payments. Communicating with CS has been challenging, as I have received conflicting information. One representative advised me to submit a letter of objection, another suggested simply uploading the relevant documents for review, and a third recommended submitting a CS Assessment Amendment.

If you’ve read this far, I truly appreciate your patience.
As you can imagine, I am feeling frustrated and unsure of the right course of action.

My key concerns are:

1. How does a CS assessment override an existing parenting plan?
2. What steps can I take, or which forms should I submit, to amend the CS assessment? My travel and accommodation expenses to see my children range from $1,000 to $2,000 per trip.
3. The parenting plan is not working—my time with my children is extremely limited, and the distance is significantly impacting my ability to maintain a meaningful relationship with them. What legal avenues can I pursue to address this?
4. CS has notified me that they are going to automatically deduct from my next salary, I have not given any consent of this automatic deduction either. What do I do?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

 

[CSFLW]

We are happy to help.

Please email us [email protected]

 

[Noel Harris]

It's worth separating three things that have gotten tangled together: your parenting arrangements (consent orders and the parenting plan), the administrative child support assessment, and the collection mechanism. A parenting plan setting an informal, reduced child support figure doesn't bind Services Australia. Either parent can apply for an administrative assessment at any time, and once one is made, it takes over unless you have a formal Binding or Limited Child Support Agreement registered with them, which is a different and more robust document to a parenting plan.

To have your travel and accommodation costs properly recognised, the relevant mechanism is usually a Change of Assessment application based on the high costs of enabling you to spend time with your children, rather than an informal arrangement. You can also lodge a formal objection to the current assessment if you believe it was calculated incorrectly. Employer wage deductions are a standard statutory collection method once a liability is assessed, your consent to the underlying assessment isn't required for that to happen, though you can ask Services Australia about alternative payment arrangements.

If the real issue is that the current time-with-children arrangement isn't working for you, that's a separate conversation from child support, and worth revisiting directly, whether informally, through family dispute resolution, or by way of a fresh application if needed. Given the layers here (existing consent orders, a parenting plan, and now a contested assessment), it's genuinely worth a lawyer looking at the whole picture rather than tackling each agency's advice piecemeal.

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Disclaimer: Please note information in this response is general in nature and should not be treated as legal advice. It may not be complete or up to date for your specific situation. Independent legal advice is always recommended.