When the other parent lives outside Australia

Who this applies to

This information applies to you if all of the following apply:

• you live in Australia
• the other parent lives outside Australia
• the other country has made a maintenance liability
• the overseas authority ask us to register and enforce it on their behalf.

A maintenance liability can be a court order, agreement or assessment made by the maintenance authority in that country.

When we register and enforce child support on behalf of overseas authorities, our role is to act as a collection agency on behalf of that country. You should make payments to us in Australia.

Registering overseas child support in Australia

A receiving parent outside Australia can ask us to:

• register a maintenance liability made in a reciprocating jurisdiction
• register an Australian child support assessment.

You must make these requests through the other country’s child support authority.

If we can register the liability, we will write to you to tell you the amount you need to pay in Australian dollars. We will collect your payments on behalf of the other country.

If the other parent lives in New Zealand

There are different arrangements if the other parent lives in New Zealand.

Read about paying child support to a parent in New Zealand.

How to pay us

You can pay by:

• deduction
• EasyPay – credit or debit card
• BPay
• Australia Post BillPay
• mail.

You pay in Australian dollars.

Deductions

We can deduct child support from:

• your wages
• payments from Centrelink or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

There’s no extra cost to you.

Call the Child support enquiry line to discuss other options if you don’t want us to do this.

EasyPay

Pay safely online 24/7 through Australian Government EasyPay. You can use your credit or debit card.

There’s a small card payment fee.

BPay

Pay from your bank account through BPay:

• use biller code 201509
• give your 16 digit payment reference number - it’s on your payer account statement.

Australia Post BillPay

Pay at any branch of Australia Post. You will need to take your payment slip with you.

Mail

Post us a cheque or money order:

• put Services Australia – Child Support as the payee
• include your payment slip - it’s on your payer account statement.

Send it to:

Call the Child support enquiry line to discuss how to pay.

What happens next

Once you pay, we will add it as a credit in your Australian child support account.

We either:

• send the money to the overseas authority, and they pay the amount owing to the receiving parent
• send the money directly to the receiving parent.

Changing the maintenance liability

If your maintenance liability was made outside Australia:

• we may be able to help you ask for a change with a reciprocating jurisdiction
• you can ask for a change through the Australian courts - if you apply for a change through the Australian courts, the maintenance authority in the other country must recognise the change.

This may not always be possible.

If you’re thinking about this either:

• talk to a lawyer
• call us on our Child support enquiry line.