To make a binding child support agreement, both parties need to agree on an amount for your child support payments. The amount can be more or less than the amount that would be payable under a child support assessment.
To receive child support under a binding agreement a parent must have at least 35% care of a child. Read about how your percentage of care affects your child support payments.
Both parents must seek independent legal advice and each get a legal certificate. If you don’t, your binding agreement will not be valid. However, you can still make a limited child support agreement with the other parent.
When we’ve accepted a binding agreement, receiving parents can choose to get their payments by either:
As a parent, you must meet all of these obligations:
- pay your child support in full and on time if you’re the paying parent
- make sure you tell us what care arrangements are in place for your children
- lodge your tax return on time
- report your income accurately
- tell us about any changes of circumstances.
Changes to the care arrangements can affect a child support assessment. You need to tell us about changes straight away. If you don’t tell us within 28 days any of the following may happen:
- your level of care may only apply from the date you tell us
- you may get a child support debt or overpayment
- your assessment may be suspended or ended.
Changes to care arrangements can also impact a child support agreement.
Find out more about how to tell us if your child’s care arrangements change.
If your agreement is written to support a change, the amount payable under it may change if either your:
- child’s care changes
- new circumstances affect your agreement.
If the agreement doesn’t support changes to care, the agreement may end. Your agreement will generally end from the date of the care change, so it’s important you notify us immediately of any change. Read more about ending a binding agreement.
After the agreement is accepted by the Registrar, we may still issue child support formula assessment notices as required by Child Support legislation.
Read about the Effect of a Child Support Agreement Once Accepted by the Registrar in the Child Support Guide. You can read about this on the Department of Social Services website.
Get a child support assessment
You will need a child support assessment if you want a lump sum binding agreement. Getting a child support assessment is optional with other types of binding agreements.
Read more about child support assessments.