APPLICANT-HUSBAND QUESTIONS THE BASIS FOR THE AMOUNT OF CHILD SUPPORT HE HAS TO PAY
Bolton v Child Support Registrar & Anor [2020] FCCA 3360 (11 December 2020)
This case involves the child support to be paid by the applicant where he questions the basis of the tribunal in coming up with the amount he has to pay for such support.
Facts:
The Applicant and the Second Respondent Mother are the separated parents of a child born in 2003 (“the child”).
The child lived with the Mother at all relevant times and the father was, and remains, the parent liable to pay child support.
An administrative assessment for child support fixed the Applicant’s annual rate of child support at $1,416, based on the Applicant’s provisional income.
The Applicant Father seeks judicial review of a decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal alleging that the Tribunal made errors of fact in finding that his farming business is able to return a profit such that the Applicant can derive an adjusted taxable income of $150,000 per annum for the child support assessment.
Issue: Did the court err in determining the Applicant-father’s income which is the basis for the child support?
Law:
Analysis:
In order to succeed on this ground of appeal, the applicant must show that there was no evidence on which the finding of fact made by the Tribunal could have been based.
The Tribunal made findings regarding the Applicant's income level based on the operation of the farm and contract work undertaken by the Applicant.
The Tribunal's findings about the Applicant's income level were plainly based on evidence before the Tribunal and the substance of that evidence is accurately set out in the Tribunal's decision. A review of the transcript of the hearing before the Tribunal, as well as the reasons for the Tribunal’s decision, indicate that there was evidence in support of the findings made.
Furthermore, The Applicant’s ground of appeal that the Tribunal failed to consider the Applicant’s “actual assets, liabilities and income” is not made out, as it is apparent from the Tribunal’s decision that the Applicant had failed to provide all relevant evidence of assets and liabilities. As such, the Tribunal made a decision based on the evidence that was disclosed and put before the Tribunal. It is not for the Tribunal to make the Applicant’s case.
Conclusion: The reasons provided by the Tribunal were adequate as they set out the Tribunal’s findings and explained those findings to the Applicant. Hence, the application shall be dismissed.
