Curious - CS when child has own income

[nat278]

As title says just wondering out of curiosity:

My DSS is 16 and we pay CS which his mother has decided should go into his bank account directly so she doesn't get any of it anyhow, now DSS receives youth allowance from centrelink and will have job soon and I wondered would that reduce or change CS amount we pay to him?

As I said just curious if anyone knows, I doubt it would matter, think you pay till they are 18 regardless, is that right ??

[MummaBear03]

My brother had a job at 15 and our father still paid CS but he only paid the minimum so it couldn't reduce from there.

I think if a child has a job to bring in some pocket money then it shouldn't really affect the child support. But if the child moves out of home and gets a full time job before turning 18 then the child support should be redirected to that person rather than the other parent.

[nat278]

Thanks for quick reply, i assumed it is till 18 no matter what, not trying to reduce amount we pay, was purely curious about it, thanks again :-)

[pegasus]

I had a look at this as we looked at it when my DSD started working while getting youth allowance - I thought she had to be working 30hr/week before it was considered significant income, but apparently it's on dollar amount.

change when child is earning (http://www.csa.gov.au/guidev2/TheGuideMaster.aspx?content=2_6_10#significant_inc ome)

Seems if the child is earning over ~$221/week gross (after tax) it does affect CS payments.

HTH

[InSaneOne]

i think (going from memory) that if the child earns more than $12000 a year before tax (not including youth allowance) that is when you don't need to pay child support. also payments stop when the child turns 18 even if they are continuing their education by going to uni (or still finishing year 12). the main parent (the one they live with mostly) can apply for child support to be paid until the child finishes high school but they have to do that at the start of the year the child turns 18.