Hi All. To those fighting child support to correctly recognise income of other party, please soldier on. I recieved a lift on the other parent's income of 10x to half a million set for +5yrs. Here are some points:
1) applied. Objected. Then escalated to a Tribunal hearing. This enabled me to get all records from child support (+2000 Pages).
2) lead child support in what they should obtain. Ie, bas statements, etc. Help them with what information they should subpoena. They have great powers to subpoena. Like, so good it put disclosure through family courts to shame. And I had an expensive lawyer.
3) go through the evidence with a fine tooth comb. Put the case together. Be smart. For instance, despite limited information, a workcover payment let me reverse engineer approx business profits (before tax) based on bas statements from 12 months prior. I discovered an undeclared property due to a rental deposit, then got title searches, etv. Lay out clearly to CS and tribunal - you need to do ALL the work except for the information gathering. You need to run your own case, CS don't know what to look for and don't have financial investigative skills.
4) be patient. Application of income assessment was lodged in Feb 2022, outcome still hasn't been implemented (has been ruled upon).
5) in my case, the other party was non-compliant in providing any information. Including defying tribunal orders at directions hearing seeking information. They did this as they thought silence would work in their favour due to lack of evidence. ALL info I got was subpoenaed by CS during the initial applicaton, and a small amount on the objection.
6) the only information I had to begin with was 'how can my ex afford the rent she is paying' after she moved I to a new place. This was all I had. I started with contacting the agent saying 'hey, I'm interested in a place for $xxxx per week, I have X kids. What type of income would I need? I'm just trying to work out what rental I can afford'. I began with that, and +18 months later have my result.
The system is a pain. But if you show enough evidence, then you can win. If you think your ex is hiding income or under-disclosing, then YES, you can do something about it.
1) applied. Objected. Then escalated to a Tribunal hearing. This enabled me to get all records from child support (+2000 Pages).
2) lead child support in what they should obtain. Ie, bas statements, etc. Help them with what information they should subpoena. They have great powers to subpoena. Like, so good it put disclosure through family courts to shame. And I had an expensive lawyer.
3) go through the evidence with a fine tooth comb. Put the case together. Be smart. For instance, despite limited information, a workcover payment let me reverse engineer approx business profits (before tax) based on bas statements from 12 months prior. I discovered an undeclared property due to a rental deposit, then got title searches, etv. Lay out clearly to CS and tribunal - you need to do ALL the work except for the information gathering. You need to run your own case, CS don't know what to look for and don't have financial investigative skills.
4) be patient. Application of income assessment was lodged in Feb 2022, outcome still hasn't been implemented (has been ruled upon).
5) in my case, the other party was non-compliant in providing any information. Including defying tribunal orders at directions hearing seeking information. They did this as they thought silence would work in their favour due to lack of evidence. ALL info I got was subpoenaed by CS during the initial applicaton, and a small amount on the objection.
6) the only information I had to begin with was 'how can my ex afford the rent she is paying' after she moved I to a new place. This was all I had. I started with contacting the agent saying 'hey, I'm interested in a place for $xxxx per week, I have X kids. What type of income would I need? I'm just trying to work out what rental I can afford'. I began with that, and +18 months later have my result.
The system is a pain. But if you show enough evidence, then you can win. If you think your ex is hiding income or under-disclosing, then YES, you can do something about it.
