Section 55A — Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989: Simplified outline

The following is a simplified outline of this Division: • A parent’s income percentage represents the parent’s capacity to meet the costs of the child. • A parent’s cost percentage represents the extent to which the parent is taken to have met the costs of the child through care. • A parent’s child support percentage is the difference between the parent’s income percentage and his or her cost percentage. Generally, if the parent has a positive child support percentage, the annual rate of child support payable by the parent is that percentage of the costs of the child. • If a parent has multiple child support cases, the annual rate of child support payable by the parent for a child is capped by the parent’s multi-case cap for the child.