What Happens If Your Spouse Doesn’t Pay Child Support in Perth?

While some divorces may be amicable and fulfilled through mutual consent, others may be contested, take longer, and have more complicated matters attached. In other words, this is a situation that can be quite tricky. A marriage, as a bouquet of rights and responsibilities, when dissolved, entails the rightful division of those responsibilities. One of the most complicated negotiations is child custody and child support.

If your spouse still needs to pay their designated child support, there are several ways in which interventions can occur. This article overviews the steps you can take to ensure your child’s rights, needs, and requirements are fulfilled.

What happens in case of late child support payments?

If the spouse is late in paying their child support or delays it, penalties can be added to the amount of support they were originally supposed to pay. This penalty amount is paid to the government of Australia and not the other spouse. The child support must be paid in full for concessions to the penalty or considerations of removal.

What happens in case of missed child support payments?

Any missed payment must be made as soon as possible. Even if the spouse cannot pay all the child support upfront, they must arrange for timely deposits. The spice responsible for paying child support might need to discuss their financial situation and payment debt with child services to devise an arrangement where the due support can be paid in full.

What can you do to recover child support?

Covering the living expenses and needs and necessities fall under their basic rights. Intentional non-payment of child support and non-compliance with parental responsibilities is a form of child abuse. If your spouse withholds financial support for your offspring, there are various ways in which penalties can be enforced and the child support recovered.

• Redirecting refunds to debts

If your spouse has child support debts, one of how the money can be extracted is through redirecting money owed to the spouse in refunds to first cover the child support debt.

• Deduction from income support

This is a regular payment that supports an individual’s living costs. Age pensions, disability support, carer payments, parenting payments, jobseeker payments, and more are all deductible sources. These are some sources from which the funds can be cut. It can also be deducted from any payment they receive from the Department of Veteran Affairs.

• Tax refunds

Since most parents are required to pay taxes in Australia, tax returns can be used to pay child support amounts. This can be made along with other payment arrangements.

• Bank account or employer deductions

If your spouse withholds child support, child support services can deduct the amount due from your spouse’s bank account. Alternatively, they can deduct it from their employer’s salary.

• Banning overseas travel

Often, spouses or parents with outstanding child support who haven’t made any arrangements for paying the due amount try to leave Australia to evade payment. To prevent such evasions, child support services can prevent these spouses or parents from leaving Australia by banning them from overseas travel. This is done with the Department Prohibition Order.

The travel band persists till the outstanding child support amount is paid or till the sponsor agrees to make arrangements for the payment. This ban can be enforced without a court order.

• Litigations

If the previous methods don’t work, lawyers can take up your case in court. This method can eat fruit if there are income streams or assets in your spouse’s name from which the child support can be extracted.

• Prosecution

In case of severe resistance and attempts at avoiding child support, your spouse is liable to be prosecuted. Not paying your dues is a serious crime. When intentional and done to inflict harm, it counts as child abuse.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that protecting the safety and sanctity of minors is one of the foremost duties of parents. Child support is a huge part of this responsibility, for it is indivisible for the survival of the child. If your spouse is evading child support, contact the best child support lawyer in Perth to discuss the most applicable and fastest course of action for you and your child.