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If it’s difficult for you to apply for a child support assessment, there may be other options. Please call us on the Centrelink families line.
We consider a parent to be either a biological or adoptive parent, or a person who’s legally responsible for:
- a child born through an artificial conception procedure
- a child born where there’s a surrogacy court order.
Maintenance action test
If you or your partner care for a child from a past relationship, you must take reasonable action to get child support. You must do this to get more than the base rate of FTB Part A.
We call this the Maintenance Action Test. You can meet this test by applying for a child support assessment.
If you don’t take action in time, your FTB Part A may be reduced to the base rate for that child.
Taking reasonable maintenance action
To take reasonable action to get child support, you generally need to either:
- apply for a child support assessment with Child Support
- apply to Child support for the acceptance of a child support agreement.
If you’ve done either of these already and your request is in progress, and you have let us know, you already meet the requirement of taking reasonable maintenance action.
Maintenance action grace period
You must take reasonable action to get child support. You need to do this within 91 days of any of the following:
- the child being born or entered your care
- you separating from the child’s other parent
- your percentage of care increasing to 35% or more
- you first becoming eligible to apply for child support.
Maintenance action test exemption
If you’re not able to apply for or collect your child support assessment for any reason, you should call us on the Families line. This can include if:
- you’ve experienced or fear family and domestic violence or other types of abuse
- your child’s parentage is unknown.
We can discuss your situation in more detail. You may be eligible for an exemption from seeking child support. In some cases, exemptions need to be assessed by a social worker. We’ll let you know if this applies to you.