Child Support comes thru (well part of it)

[Gigi]

after MUCH confusing paperwork, and multiple estimates of what CS was going to be (i lodged in November), now in May (so six months), $16.75 is being paid fortnightly for bilby's CS. It's much less than the CSA assessment said it would be, but X has told me, he is in arrears with his first child's CS, so apparently, until those arrears are paid, then second child's CS (bilby) will be reduced.

but officially, on paper, the CS is more than double, (i think, early 40's) - and i suspect that is what will count officially, it has already made my rent (public housing) go up, i am wondering how many other things it will affect. e.g will it make the Family tax a or b go down too?

Do you get statements from CSA? (to keep a check on what is paid in, if up to date).
e.g for the month of April, you should have been paid $40 each fortnight, but what really got paid was the lower amount of $x, so X is in arrears of $--.00. That's supposing the unpaid money, will be paid at SOME point.

or is the unpaid amount, just lost forever?

The last time i rang up CS, (to ask questions about the latest paperwork that had been sent to me) the consultant was annoyed with me, cos i apparently should have understood all about CS, from the phone interview i had back in November (!!!). Back then, X was unemployed and i was too tired/upset/overwhelmed to take much in, i just rang up to give my details.

X's new job is a sales commission job. So it's a basic retainer, (i have no idea how much), then six weeks after a sale, he gets commissions on top. The weeks he makes no sales, he has to pay the company back, so makes negative. I'm assuming he will need to declare those commissions, for the CSA to adjust the CS. So with an income not fixed (going up and down), this makes me nervous, about all the adjustments.

i actually felt calmer, when he was paying zero CS, at least i knew what to expect. (on unemployment benefits, if a co-parent has 14% care of the child, then they don't pay any CS).

[*Sparklez*]

How annoying the people that are there to help you, expect you to educate yourself..

Ok firstly are they collecting it for you or are you doing it privately?
If he misses payments or doesnt give them, he will be made to pay, alot of occaisions will be tax time.. I didnt think it mattered if they were in arrears your child is also of equal value, so that is abit strange..
It will effect your payments but for that amount i dont think a whole lot will go..You dont really get statements, you basically get an overview of what you should be getting and what you may expect to get in the coming future.
If he isnt earning money, i dont see how they expect him to pay? If i was you to cover your own behind, let the CS collect it for you, that way they are in control and can monitor payments, also when it comes to tax time, if you have been under paid from centrelink, they normally pay you the amount you should of got, so basically back pay you.. HTH

[Gigi]

thanks Sparklez.

he is employed now.
last year when i physically left in Nov, he had just become unemployed. so it went
- five weeks of nothing (waiting to qualify for unemployment benefits)
- unemployment benefits
- then maybe a month or two ago, he got the sales job. so he is employed now. he gets a basic retainer, and commissions on top of that, depending on what he sells. but the commissions are paid SIX WEEKS after he makes a sale. Just the maths of this, is so messy.

Child Support Agency collect on my behalf.

From what you describe (statement wise), it sounds like no-one is keeping tabs between what IS MEANT to be paid, and what ACTUALLY is paid. So that must mean no-one is keeping score of what isn't paid.

Tax time won't help me, this is a person who is years behind in tax returns. i haven't gotten the Family Supplement for years, cos he is so far behind with tax returns. Esp. this year, i was counting on that Family Supplement, wanted to save it, so i will have the money needed for school expenses next year. but it doesn't get paid, if the tax returns are not filed. so both his children miss out on it.

the last time he was years behind in tax returns, the only thing that got him to do three years at once, was a letter from CS or ATO threatening a jail term for non-compliance. i wish he would get one of those letters again, cos nothing else has worked.

[*Sparklez*]

Have you spoken to a social worker at centerlink about all this?
I'm no employee there but have had my share of dealings too.. Maybe the other girls can help but you shouldnt be missing out this yr due to him..
It's all messy i know but I do hope someone picks up the slack cause it's not fair you have to scrape to support your dd


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[briggsy's girl]

Gigi CSA keep track of every cent that is paid or not paid. this is how they know that he owes for his other child. if he has an income below a certain threshold, he would have to pay the minimum amount, which would be divided between the two families. if he isn't paying enough to cover both his current liability to you and to the other child, they would pay some to each family, and keep a track of how far he is falling behind. if he has a job now, and he isn't paying properly, they may be able to garnish directly from his wages. they can also force him to do tax returns i believe (if he doesn't, they will reassess his liability to a higher level because he is not meeting his obligations i think)

child suppot only impacts you in the year you receive it. if your ftb is reduced at all due to the assessment (which it shouldn't be - 40 a fn for 26fn is below the income thresholds to impact ftb), at reconcilliation time, the ftb system will calculate exactly what you received from child support (to the cent) and pay ou back any ftba you have had reduced. if he is SUPPOSED to be paying 40 a fn for CS but is only paying 20, and it is impacting your payment, call up FAO, talk to them about entitlement vs disbursment. i won't go into it here, because it is a messy set of calculations and only really relevent if the assessment (which i get is about 1040) is high enough to impact your ftba (around 1350 per fin year). i don't want to confuse you - just keep an eye on it - if your ftb part a goes down, give FAO a call to discuss

in terms of housing department i would check with them what happens if he is not paying his full liability via CSA. i know they look at a percentage of your income and thats what you pay, but if he isn't paying and child support can confirm that, they may reassess on what you're actually getting.

[deletedit]

Is $16.75 the minimum? I got that this month, for years and years I've been getting $600ish on the second workday of the month like clockwork, so I budget for it, and this month ... argh. So much for the electricity bill. That's quite the drop, considering I don't get FTA for that child.