Family Law particpation

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School

University of Technology Sydney *

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76516

Subject

Sociology

Date

Jan 9, 2024

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docx

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1. Is paying child support compulsory? Should it be? Think of some arguments for and against a compulsory child support scheme. Currently, the child support scheme is optional. It is only compulsory for those claiming specific social security payments for family assistance (particularly the Family Tax Benefit) Arguments for:  Upon a relationship breakdown, mothers are usually at a financial disadvantage. This is because children tend to live with their mothers after a family separation and mothers generally earn less income than fathers. As a result, many divorced or separated women struggle to meet household expenses due to the shortfall in income. The introduction of a compulsory child support scheme would address this gendered inequality and dependency.  Fathers would have to continue to provide for their children both financially and in caretaking capacity. This would be beneficial to the development of the child.  Currently, the payee (who is usually the mother) needs to seek a maintenance order, and if this isn’t done it will be presumed that she is receiving adequate child support, and as a result will lose out on social security benefits. This places the responsibility of seeking child support predominantly on mothers. They have to lodge all the paperwork and provide the supporting documentation. Some might find this to very procedurally complicated, especially those that are economically disadvantaged. They may not be aware of how the scheme works or find it too difficult to navigate. Hence, if child support was made compulsory for everyone and was automatically applied, it would greatly simplify the process and may lead to better procedural outcomes. Arguments against  The mother still has to deal with the financial burdens due to inadequate child support payments in circumstances where the father is a low-income earner or has seen a drop in income since the commencement of child support,  It would pin the responsibility of child support entirely on parental obligation and removes the responsibility of the State in providing support to women and children in poverty. 2. Do you think the child support system is fair? What is unfair about it? In your answer consider the social

hierarchies that exist in society (eg gender and class) and whether the child support scheme has helped or hindered the creation of equal social relations. Due to recent reforms, the current system treats both parents as though they have equal financial standing. This approach is unfair, as it ignores the effects of the sexual division of labour. The assumption that both parties are equal ignores the reality that women are financially weaker. Thus, women are often not adequately supported due to this unrealistic assumption that there is an equal playing field between mothers and fathers. Targeting poorest people/richest of men having income disregarded over threshold over197 CS Payable even if income is 0 – reinforcing class based society/gendered hierarchy A parent with 100% care can expect to profit from having children. Secondly, high-income payers can greatly reduce child support by earning less than their potential or under-reporting income rexcipient parents receive more support if they reduce earnings or don't work at all.  Need more accurate data of costs to both parents;  Discourse of sole responsibility of the parents should give way to better public support for the costs of bringing up children  The present approach is biased towards payers with greatest financial means (usually men given the pay gap that exists)  The present approach addressed the concerns of fathers; concerns of mothers only marginally addressed  Approach to reform was supported by the Act aimed at shared parenting – reveals the biased use of evidence  This approach was a gendered and varied use of evidence that does not accord with empirical evidence – women as a group continue to be the primary carers and are financially worse off than men  the effect is that women are faring worse under the new scheme than men  Difficulty for women claiming CS especially in cases of violence  Flow on effects for children – unequal treatment of children and children risk not getting the support they need

3. Explain the role of the state in the child support context. Has the right balance been struck between parental responsibility for the financial support of children and the state's obligations to provide child support? Child support is mainly viewed as a parental obligation. The welfare provided by the State is very limited. Parents are expected to rely on one another for child support at the end of a relationship breakdown before they approach the State for support. Consequently, women and children in poverty are not supported by the State. Rather, the State aims to find privatised solutions to address this economic gap. This has been achieved, to some extent, by holding fathers accountable for child support and maintenance. One rationale for this includes the biological argument about children being vulnerable and in need of financial support. Thus, the nuclear family setting has been exploited by law and policy makers to pin the responsibility of child support predominantly on parents. This is reinforced by the ‘Children as pets’ argument, whereby children mainly only seen to be benefitting their parents by providing them with love and company the same way pets do. Hence, parents are expected to pay child support rather than the State, as they are the ones that reap the benefit of their children’s upbringing. However, this argument does not address situations where the father does not earn enough to adequately support the mother and children through child support payment. In circumstances such as this, it is the mothers that have to deal with the shortfall in income. Moreover, there is also the issue of some non-resident fathers being dishonest about their earnings, or not lodging a tax return. The Child Support Parliamentary Inquiry of 2014 reported that in 2013- 2014 there were 435,425 non-resident parents with an outstanding tax return. As a result, many women are not receiving enough child support and are struggling to meet living expenses. In circumstances like these, child support provided by the State would help bridge the economic gap between mothers and fathers and ultimately benefit the child as well. 4. After reading the section on child support explain in your own words what are the connections (or disconnections) between spousal maintenance, child support and parenting orders related to time. What messages does the law's approach to these matters send to separating parents.

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Child and spousal maintenance and parenting orders are closely connected, as they both address the dependencies that exist within the nuclear family structure. Upon a relationship breakdown, women often become the principle caregivers for children. This stems from the gendered sexual division of labour, whereby women usually occupy the role of caring for children. Consequently, their employability is drastically reduced, and they find themselves dependent upon spousal and child support to overcome this drop in income. Thus, ongoing maintenance is necessary for women and children to ensure that this financial gap is bridged. needed reform  CS - the search for private solutions to the poverty of women and children  The government out looking for recalcitrant fathers, rather than formulating public policies around women's employment, child care and related service  Children (unlike the former spouse) do not have the alternative of economic independence  Private maintenance payments by fathers should be encouraged, but only if they serve the purpose of increasing the child's standard of living, not for the purpose of saving the government money… cannot be done in a punitive way or the might well result in the children already living in poverty being worse off.  Although spouse maintenance and child maintenance are defined legally as separate matters, they are, in fact, inextricably linked. Child care responsibilities are often the reason that women find themselves in need of spouse maintenance, given the effect those responsibilities have on women's workforce participation rate. Similarly, the legal links between the questions of maintenance and property distribution make it impossible to consider those matters in isolation 5. Explain the formula for computing child support. See part 10.5.1 of the prescribed text or https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/child- support/child-support-assessment/how-we-work-out-your- assessment/basic-formula Apart from the formula being difficult to understand, what other observations can you make about the formula? 1. (a) Work out each parent’s child support income (parent’s adjusted taxable income minus a self- support amount and any relevant dependant allowance)

(b) Work out the parents’ combined income (c) Work out each parent’s income percentage (parent’s income divided by the combined total income) (d) Work out each parent’s percentage of care (e) Work out each parent’s cost percentage (f) Work out each parent’s child support percentage (subtract the cost percentage from the income percentage for each parent) (g) Work out the costs of children (h) Work out the child support amount (multiplying the child support percentage by the costs of the child This scheme generated a lot of anger and dissatisfaction by non-resident parents (mostly fathers; as they appear to be liable for the full cost of supporting children) the custodial parent can earn a significant income (AWE plus an additional amount for each child in that parent's care, an amount which for two children is approximately $32,000 per annum) before there is a corresponding reduction in the level of child support provided by the non custodial parent; There is a strong connection between the amount of contact each parent has with the child and the subsequent amount the have to pay in child support. It also seems very rigid, as it does not take into account fluctuations in income. For instance, what if one of the parents works a casual job that pay differently based on the hours worked? Would they be expected to pay the set maintenance amount despite continual changes in come?  no account under the formula is taken of expenditure in the form of school fees, mortgage payments and other expenditure of direct benefit to the children and directly attributable to the non-custodial parent by the beneficiaries - ie it cannot be hidden or denied by the custodial parent;  significant shifts in income levels are required before the non- custodial parent can qualify for a review of the amount paid

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