Child Support

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Australian Suicide Victim “Hounded” Over Child Support

It was “a tragic indictment of the system” that a Canberra man had committed suicide holding a letter of demand from the Child Support Agency, the ACT Coroners Court was told yesterday.
Barrister Richard Thomas said the receipt of the letter two days before Warren Gilbert’s death in August had “tipped him over the edge”.

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Change is essential to the child support formula

It will be a tragedy if the current moves to change the child support system are thwarted in the Senate, writes Bettina Arndt .
The latest attempt to reform child support is in trouble, with Labor and Democrat senators refusing to pass key government amendments. Talks continue but it seems unlikely the Government will overcome Opposition resistance to dividing the costs of children more fairly between separated parents.

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Estimating the Costs of Contact for Non-resident Parents

The research establishes that the costs of exercising contact will often be relatively high. For
example, where contact with one child is for 20% of the nights of the year, the cost of this
contact represents about 40% of the total yearly costs of raising that child in an intact couple
household with a medium income, and more than half the total yearly costs of that child in a
household with a low income.

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Problem Parents doing time “Letters”

For too long people suffering as a result of family separation have been
kept away from the public gaze. Your newspaper deserves praise for bringing
the heartache and tragedy of those who unfortunately find themselves as
clients of the Family Court and Child Support Agency to the fore. (‘Problem’
parents doing time – Focus, 8-9/4/00)

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Problem parents doing time

Attorney General Daryl Williams wants to jail more mums and dads who defy family law. But as John Stapleton reports, critics say it is the system that is at fault.

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Child-support reforms ‘unfair’

The promise of fairer child-support rules has been dashed by an unfair and restrictive regulation enforced by the Child Support Agency, according to the Men’s Rights Agency.
The law was changed last year to, among other things, allow paying parents to divert up to 25 per cent of their child support into benefits or services provided directly to their children.
But, by restricting payments to just eight approved categories, the Child Support Agency has been accused of undermining the will of Parliament and perpetuating the unfairness in the system.

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Child payments: A-G’s advice on jailing ‘wrong’

Attorney General Daryl Williams has been accused of deliberately misleading a Government Senator over plans to jail parents who fall behind in child-support payments.
Prominent advocacy group, the Men’s Rights Agency, claimed yesterday Mr Williams was wrong when he said tough new jailing provisions planned for maintenance defaulters would apply only to those with court orders predating the Child Support Agency.

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